Synchrony between brain age and internalising and externalising symptoms across adolescence
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Adolescence is a period of rapid neurobiological and behavioural change, yet how brain maturation deviations relate to psychopathology remains unclear. Here, we show, using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, that deviations in brain age are coupled with internalising and externalising symptom development across adolescence. Combining multimodal brain age prediction across four waves (ages ~8.3–17.5) with bivariate latent growth curve models of ten symptom waves, we found coordinated nonlinear development between brain maturation and symptoms: adolescents whose brains increasingly diverged from age-expected maturation showed increasing symptoms. Effects were most consistent for internalising symptoms in females ( r = 0.15–0.23) and broader for externalising symptoms in both sexes ( r = 0.15–0.32); intercept-level associations were weaker ( r = 0.08–0.09). Sex differences were not robust after correction. Vulnerability to adolescent psychopathology appears more closely linked to changes in brain maturational tempo than to fixed differences in brain age.
Source: Communications Biology
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,190
Awards: G1249446810, G1572642439, G1720116196, G2357976963, G3508695061, G4019268957, G4235098896, G4314398052, G4696372340, G6899542990, G7181694704, G765095283, G8116064542, G8397336999, 9/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U MICHIGAN, 20/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT VCU, 3/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U MINNESOTA, 4/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT FIU, 7/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT YALE, 17/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UCLA, 15/21 ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project Site at LIBR, 16/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, 8/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT CHLA, ABCD-USA Consortium: Coordinating Center, 6/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT OHSU, 10/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT SRI, 12/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U PITTSBURGH, 19/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UVM, 1/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U UTAH, 11/21 ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project Site at UWM, ABCD-USA Consortium: Data Analysis, Informatics and Resource Center, 21/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT WUSTL, 13/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT MUSC, 5/21 ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project Site at UC San Diego, 18/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, 2/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT UMB, 14/21 ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project Site at CU Boulder
OpenAlex ID: W7169842162