Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2019 Dec;31(5):1661-1674. doi: 10.1017/S0954579419001056.
Adolescence is a period of heightened susceptibility to peer influences, and deviant peer affiliation has well-established implications for the development of psychopathology. However, little is known about the role of brain functions in pathways connecting peer contexts and health risk behaviors. We tested developmental cascade models to evaluate contributions of adolescent risk taking, peer influences, and neurobehavioral variables of risk processing and cognitive control to substance use among 167 adolescents who were assessed annually for four years. Risk taking at Time 1 was related to substance use at Time 4 indirectly through peer substance use at Time 2 and insular activation during risk processing at Time 3. Furthermore, neural cognitive control moderated these effects. Greater insular activation during risk processing was related to higher substance use for those with greater medial prefrontal cortex activation during cognitive control, but it was related to lower substance use among those with lower medial prefrontal cortex activation during cognitive control. Neural processes related to risk processing and cognitive control play a crucial role in the processes linking risk taking, peer substance use, and adolescents' own substance use.
青春期是一个对外界影响高度敏感的时期，与不良同伴的交往对心理病理学的发展有明确的影响。然而，对于大脑功能在连接同伴环境和健康风险行为的途径中的作用知之甚少。我们测试了发展级联模型，以评估青少年冒险、同伴影响以及风险处理和认知控制的神经行为变量对 167 名青少年的物质使用的影响，这些青少年在四年中每年接受一次评估。在时间 1 的冒险行为与在时间 4 的物质使用之间存在间接关系，这种关系通过在时间 2 的同伴物质使用和在时间 3 的风险处理中的脑岛激活来实现。此外，神经认知控制调节了这些影响。在风险处理过程中，脑岛的激活程度越高，与认知控制过程中内侧前额叶皮层的激活程度较高有关，但与认知控制过程中内侧前额叶皮层的激活程度较低有关。与风险处理和认知控制相关的神经过程在连接冒险行为、同伴物质使用和青少年自身物质使用的过程中起着至关重要的作用。
