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. 2021 Nov;92(6):e1361-e1376.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.13635. Epub 2021 Jul 22.

Into the Unknown: Examining Neural Representations of Parent-Adolescent Interactions

Erin L Ratliff  1 , Kara L Kerr  1 , Masaya Misaki  2 , Kelly T Cosgrove  2   3 , Andrew J Moore  2 , Danielle C DeVille  2   3 , Jennifer S Silk  4 , Deanna M Barch  5 , Susan F Tapert  6 , W Kyle Simmons  1 , Jerzy Bodurka  2   7 , Amanda Sheffield Morris  1   2
Affiliations

Into the Unknown: Examining Neural Representations of Parent-Adolescent Interactions

Erin L Ratliff et al. Child Dev. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

The parent-adolescent relationship is important for adolescents' emotion regulation (ER), yet little is known regarding the neural patterns of dyadic ER that occur during parent-adolescent interactions. A novel measure that can be used to examine such patterns is cross-brain connectivity (CBC)-concurrent and time-lagged connectivity between two individuals' brain regions. This study sought to provide evidence of CBC and explore associations between CBC, parenting, and adolescent internalizing symptoms. Thirty-five adolescents (mean age = 15 years, 69% female, 72% Non-Hispanic White, 17% Black, 11% Hispanic or Latino) and one biological parent (94% female) completed an fMRI hyperscanning conflict discussion task. Results revealed CBC between emotion-related brain regions. Exploratory analyses indicated CBC is associated with parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Conflict discussion task completed by parent and adolescent during fMRI hyperscanning.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The negative lag correlation indicates the seed brain activation in one individual precedes the brain activation of the other individual and vice versa for the positive lag. Instances in which parent brain activity precedes adolescent brain activity are referred to as parent-driven effects. Instances in which adolescent brain activity precedes parent brain activity are referred to as adolescent-driven effects.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Results of the cross-brain connectivity (CBC) analysis and Bayesian analyses. Blue lines represent parent-driven effects. Teal lines represent adolescent-driven effects. (a) Results of the CBC analysis. Nodes represent locations of region pairs showing statistically significant CBC between parents and adolescents. Red lines represent negative connectivity. (b) Results of the Bayesian analysis (see Figures S1 and S8) examining associations between significant CBC region pairs and adolescent-perceived parent emotion socialization behaviors (EAC). All parent-driven CBC between these regions was associated with fewer supportive parent emotion socialization behaviors. The only instance of adolescent-driven CBC between these regions was associated with greater unsupportive parent emotion socialization behaviors (teal line). (c) Results of the Bayesian analysis (see Figure S5) examining associations between significant CBC region pairs and adolescent-reported depressive symptoms (MFQ). All parent-driven CBC between these regions was associated with fewer adolescent depressive symptoms. No associations between adolescent-driven CBC and adolescent depressive symptoms were found.
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