Associations of neighborhood threat and deprivation with psychopathology: Uncovering neural mechanisms.

Abstract

Background: Assessing dimensions of neighborhoods could aid identification of contextual features that influence psychopathology in children and contribute to uncovering mechanisms underlying these associations.

Method: The ABCD sample included 8,339 participants aged 9-10 from 21 U.S. sites. Mixed effect and structural equation models estimated associations of self-reported neighborhood threat/safety and county-level neighborhood threat (i.e., crime) and tract-level deprivation with psychopathology symptoms and indirect effects. Hypothesized mechanisms included emotion processing (adaptation to emotional conflict, task-active ROIs for emotional n-back) and cognition (EF and task-active ROIs for the stop-signal task); exploratory analyses included neural function (of amygdala to network and within-network resting state connectivity).

Results: Associations of neighborhood deprivation and all symptoms were mediated by EF; links with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) were mediated by retrosplenial temporal and dorsal attention within-network connectivity. In contrast, neighborhood threat was associated with attention difficulties, internalizing problems, and PLEs uniquely via default mode within-network connectivity; with attention difficulties, externalizing symptoms, and PLEs through amygdala-dorsal attention within-network connectivity, with PLEs and externalizing symptoms through visual within-network connectivity; with PLEs and attention difficulties through amygdala-sensorimotor connectivity, and with PLEs through amygdala-salience network connectivity.

Conclusion: Neighborhood deprivation and threat predicted symptoms through distinct neural and cognitive pathways, with implications for prevention and intervention efforts at contextual levels.