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Background and Aims: Recently, we demonstrated that a distinct pattern of structural covariance networks (SCN) from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)‐derived measurements of brain cortical thickness characterized young adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and predicted current and future problematic drinking in adolescents relative to controls. Here, we establish the robustness and value of SCN for identifying heavy alcohol users in three additional independent studies. Design and Setting: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies using data from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics (PING) study (n = 400, age range = 14–22 years), the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) (n = 272, age range = 17–22 years) and the Human Connectome Project (HCP) (n = 375, age range = 22–37 years). Cases: Cases were defined based on heavy alcohol use patterns or former alcohol use disorder (AUD) diagnoses: 50, 68 and 61 cases were identified. Controls had none or low alcohol use or absence of AUD: 350, 204 and 314 controls were selected. Measurements Graph theory metrics of segregation and integration were used to summarize SCN. Findings Mirroring our prior findings, and across the three data sets, cases had a lower clustering coefficient [area under the curve (AUC) = −0.029, P = 0.002], lower modularity (AUC = −0.14, P = 0.004), lower average shortest path length (AUC = −0.078, P = 0.017) and higher global efficiency (AUC = 0.007, P = 0.010). Local efficiency differences were marginal (AUC = −0.017, P = 0.052). That is, cases exhibited lower network segregation and higher integration, suggesting that adjacent nodes (i.e. brain regions) were less similar in thickness whereas spatially distant nodes were more similar. Conclusion: Structural covariance network (SCN) differences in the brain appear to constitute an early marker of heavy alcohol use in three new data sets and, more generally, demonstrate the utility of SCN‐derived metrics to detect brain‐related psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growing evidence indicates that sleep characteristics predict future substance use and related problems. However, most prior studies assessed a limited range of sleep characteristics, studied a narrow age span, and included few follow‐up assessments. Here, we used six annual assessments from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) study, which spans adolescence and young adulthood with an accelerated longitudinal design, to examine whether multiple sleep characteristics in any year predict alcohol and cannabis use the following year. Methods: The sample included 831 NCANDA participants (423 females; baseline age 12–21 years). Sleep variables included circadian preference, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, the timing of midsleep (weekday/weekend), and sleep duration (weekday/weekend). Using generalized linear mixed models (logistic for cannabis; ordinal for binge severity), we tested whether each repeatedly measured sleep characteristic (years 0–4) predicted substance use (alcohol binge severity or cannabis use) the following year (years 1–5), covarying for age, sex, race, visit, parental education, and previous year's substance use. Results: Greater eveningness, more daytime sleepiness, later weekend sleep timing, and shorter sleep duration (weekday/weekend) all predicted more severe alcohol binge drinking the following year. Only greater eveningness predicted a greater likelihood of any cannabis use the following year. Post‐hoc stratified exploratory analyses indicated that some associations (e.g., greater eveningness and shorter weekend sleep duration) predicted binge severity only in female participants, and that middle/high school versus post‐high school adolescents were more vulnerable to sleep‐related risk for cannabis use. Conclusions: Our findings support the relevance of multiple sleep/circadian characteristics in the risk for future alcohol binge severity and cannabis use. Preliminary findings suggest that these risk factors vary based on developmental stage and sex. Results underscore a need for greater attention to sleep/circadian characteristics as potential risk factors for substance use in youth and may inform new avenues to prevention and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dual systems theories suggest that greater imbalance between higher reward sensitivity and lower cognitive control across adolescence conveys risk for behaviors such as heavy episodic drinking (HED). Prior research demonstrated that psychological analogues of these systems, sensation seeking and premeditation, change from childhood through emerging adulthood, and each has been independently linked with HED. However, few studies have assessed whether change over time in these developing analogues is prospectively associated with HED. Moreover, we know of no research that has shown whether within‐person differences between higher sensation seeking and relatively lower premeditation across the adolescent period predict HED in emerging adulthood. Methods: Prospective data from the National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence study (n = 715) were used to examine the association of sensation seeking and premeditation with HED among adolescents ages 16 to 20 years. We used novel applications of latent difference score modeling and growth curve analysis to test whether increasing sensation seeking, premeditation, and their imbalance over time are associated with HED across the study period, and whether these associations differed by sex. Results: Whereas premeditation increased linearly from adolescence through emerging adulthood across sexes, males reported growth and females reported decline in sensation seeking. Sensation seeking in adolescence (and not premeditation) was associated with higher levels of HED by emerging adulthood. Importantly, greater imbalance between sensation seeking and premeditation was associated with higher levels of HED by emerging adulthood though we note that variability capturing this imbalance correlated highly (r = 0.86) with baseline levels of sensation seeking. Conclusions: Developmental imbalance between higher sensation seeking and lower premeditation in late adolescence may be a risk factor for greater HED in emerging adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exogenous causes, such as alcohol use, and endogenous factors, such as temperament and sex, can modulate developmental trajectories of adolescent neurofunctional maturation. We examined how these factors affect sexual dimorphism in brain functional networks in youth drinking below diagnostic threshold for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Based on the 3-year, annually acquired, longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of 526 adolescents (12-21 years at baseline) from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) cohort, developmental trajectories of 23 intrinsic functional networks (IFNs) were analyzed for (1) sexual dimorphism in 259 participants who were no-to-low drinkers throughout this period; (2) sex-alcohol interactions in two age- and sex-matched NCANDA subgroups (N = 76 each), half no-to-low, and half moderate-to-heavy drinkers; and (3) moderating effects of gender-specific alcohol dose effects and a multifactorial impulsivity measure on IFN connectivity in all NCANDA participants. Results showed that sex differences in no-to-low drinkers diminished with age in the inferior-occipital network, yet girls had weaker within-network connectivity than boys in six other networks. Effects of adolescent alcohol use were more pronounced in girls than boys in three IFNs. In particular, girls showed greater within-network connectivity in two motor networks with more alcohol consumption, and these effects were mediated by sensation-seeking only in girls. Our results implied that drinking might attenuate the naturally diminishing sexual differences by disrupting the maturation of network efficiency more severely in girls. The sex-alcohol-dose effect might explain why women are at higher risk of alcohol-related health and psychosocial consequences than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying neurocognitive mechanisms involved in individuals experiencing eating disorder (ED) symptoms may be important for preventing EDs and improving rates of recovery. The present pilot study assessed how cognitive functioning may be associated with ED symptoms in college students (N = 41). Cognitive functioning was examined using electroencephalography during an auditory response inhibition task to measure the P3 component of event‐related potentials. Multiple regression analysis revealed that longer P3 latencies in the frontal region of the cortex were significantly and linearly associated with greater ED symptoms F(3, 37) = 13.62, p < .001, R2 = 0.525, Adj. R2 = 0.486. These pilot findings build upon prior work in clinical samples in that they indicate that functional brain differences are observable across a wide span of ED symptoms, not just in those with diagnosed ED. The present findings provide support for further exploration of changes in P3 latencies among individuals with ED symptoms to enhance our understanding of neural mechanisms that may pertain to the dimensional aspects of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this pilot study, amygdala connectivity related to trauma symptoms was explored using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) in 23 healthy adolescents ages 13-17 years with no psychiatric diagnoses. Adolescents completed a self-report trauma symptom checklist and a R-fMRI scan. We examined the relationship of trauma symptoms to resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala. Increasing self-report of trauma symptoms by adolescents was associated with increasing functional connectivity with the right amygdala and a local limbic cluster and decreasing functional connectivity with the amygdala and a long-range frontoparietal cluster to the left amygdala, which can be a hallmark of immaturity. These pilot findings in adolescents provide preliminary evidence that even mild trauma symptoms can be linked to the configuration of brain networks associated with the amygdala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined concordance between adult and child reports of child suicidality using a sample of 1,046 8-year-old children at risk for, or having experienced, maltreatment. Concordance was low with both caregivers and teachers. For children reporting no suicidality, caregiver-child agreement was associated with few transitions in caregiver and low social withdrawal and aggression, and teacher-child agreement was associated with non-White ethnicity, good academic performance, and low thought problems. For children reporting suicidality, caregiver-child agreement was associated with perceptions of child mental health needs, aggression, and somatic complaints, and teacher-child agreement was associated with thought problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]