Increased neural response to peer rejection associated with adolescent depression and pubertal development

Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Nov;9(11):1798-807. doi: 10.1093/scan/nst175. Epub 2013 Nov 21.

Authors

Jennifer S Silk¹, Greg J Siegle², Kyung Hwa Lee³, Eric E Nelson³, Laura R Stroud³, Ronald E Dahl³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA, and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA, and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA silkj@upmc.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA, and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA, and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20895, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA, and School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Abstract

Sensitivity to social evaluation has been proposed as a potential marker or risk factor for depression, and has also been theorized to increase with pubertal maturation. This study utilized an ecologically valid paradigm to test the hypothesis that adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) would show altered reactivity to peer rejection and acceptance relative to healthy controls in a network of ventral brain regions implicated in affective processing of social information. A total of 48 adolescents (ages 11-17), including 21 with a current diagnosis of MDD and 27 age- and gender-matched controls, received rigged acceptance and rejection feedback from fictitious peers during a simulated online peer interaction during functional neuroimaging. MDD youth showed increased activation to rejection relative to controls in the bilateral amygdala, subgenual anterior cingulate, left anterior insula and left nucleus accumbens. MDD and healthy youth did not differ in response to acceptance. Youth more advanced in pubertal maturation also showed increased reactivity to rejection in the bilateral amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus and the caudate/subgenual anterior cingulate, and these effects remained significant when controlling for chronological age. Findings suggest that increased reactivity to peer rejection is a normative developmental process associated with pubertal development, but is particularly enhanced among youth with depression.

Keywords: adolescence; depression; neuroimaging; rejection; social exclusion.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Brain / blood supply
Brain / pathology*
Brain Mapping*
Child
Depressive Disorder, Major* / pathology
Depressive Disorder, Major* / physiopathology
Depressive Disorder, Major* / psychology
Developmental Disabilities / diagnosis*
Developmental Disabilities / etiology
Female
Humans
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Oxygen / blood
Peer Group*
Photic Stimulation
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Rejection, Psychology*
Self Report
Surveys and Questionnaires
Time Factors
User-Computer Interface

Substances

Oxygen

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding