Undergraduate Honors Thesis

The Relationship Between Individual Differences in Levels of Internalizing Symptomatology and White Matter Tract Integrity in Adolescents

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https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/6t053h63f
Abstract
  • Internalizing disorders are those defined by symptoms that focus on internal feelings and thoughts compared to externalizing symptoms which are outward facing. The unique neuroanatomical ambiguities of adolescent brains and how these relate to internalizing disorders, specifically depression and anxiety, are not well understood. Understanding the association between differences amongst youth in their levels of internalizing symptomatology and the integrity of specific neuroanatomical white matter tracts may provide insights into the relationship between brain structure and the development of mental health disorders. Studies have previously shown a relationship between clinical diagnoses of internalizing disorders (i.e., anxiety and depression) and white matter tract integrity, most notably those tracts connecting to the frontal lobes. However, the current study aims to go further by examining the relationships of the integrity of these white matter tracts with specific dimensions underlying symptoms of internalizing disorders involved in adolescent mental health. In the current study, we aimed to identify the white matter tract correlates of four dimensions of internalizing symptoms in adolescents; a common internalizing factor that captures the symptoms that are common to depression and anxiety and then three specific sets of symptoms represented by a low positive affect specific factor, an anxious arousal (panic) specific factor, and an anxious apprehension (worry) specific factor. Our results show a robust relationship between the level of symptoms of internalizing psychopathology with integrity of white matter tracts, specifically with associations between the low positive affect-specific factor and the worry-specific factor with tracts that connect to prefrontal cortex. Results were also influenced by gender, not surprisingly as gender influences the maturation of white matter tracts through adolescents.

     

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  • 2024-04-02
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  • 2024-04-05
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