Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2023 Jun;51(6):789-803. doi: 10.1007/s10802-022-01003-2. Epub 2023 Jan 27.
Neighborhood threats can increase risk for externalizing problems, including aggressive, oppositional, and delinquent behavior. Yet, there is substantial variability in how youth respond to neighborhood threats. Difficulty with cognitive functioning, particularly in the face of emotional information, may increase risk for externalizing in youth who live in neighborhoods with higher threats. However, little research has examined: 1) associations between neighborhood threats and executive networks involved in cognitive functioning or 2) whether executive networks may amplify risk for externalizing in the context of neighborhood threats. Further, most research on neighborhood threats does not account for youth's experiences in other social contexts. Utilizing the large, sociodemographically diverse cohort of youth (ages 9-10) included in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, we identified four latent profiles of youth based on threats in their neighborhoods, families, and schools: low threat in all contexts, elevated family threat, elevated neighborhood threat, and elevated threat in all contexts. The elevated neighborhood threat and elevated all threat profiles showed lower behavioral performance on an emotional n-back task relative to low threat and elevated family threat profiles. Lower behavioral performance in the elevated neighborhood threat profile specifically was paralleled by lower executive network activity during a cognitive challenge. Moreover, among youth with lower executive network activity, higher probability of membership in the elevated neighborhood threat profile was associated with higher externalizing. Together, these results provide evidence that interactions between threats that are concentrated in youth's neighborhoods and attenuated executive network function may contribute to risk for externalizing problems.
邻里威胁会增加外化问题的风险，包括攻击性行为、对立行为和犯罪行为。然而，青少年对邻里威胁的反应存在很大的差异。在面临情绪信息时，认知功能出现困难可能会增加生活在高威胁邻里环境中的青少年外化的风险。然而，很少有研究调查：1）邻里威胁与认知功能相关的执行网络之间的关联，或 2）执行网络是否可能在邻里威胁的背景下放大外化的风险。此外，大多数关于邻里威胁的研究都没有考虑到青少年在其他社会环境中的经历。利用青少年大脑认知发展研究中包括的大量社会人口统计学多样化的青少年队列，我们根据他们的邻里、家庭和学校中的威胁，确定了四个潜在的青少年群体特征：所有环境中的低威胁、家庭威胁升高、邻里威胁升高和所有环境中的高威胁。与低威胁和家庭威胁升高的群体特征相比，升高的邻里威胁和升高的所有威胁群体特征在情绪 n-back 任务上的行为表现较差。升高的邻里威胁群体特征中的较低行为表现，特别是与认知挑战期间较低的执行网络活动相对应。此外，在执行网络活动较低的青少年中，较高的可能性属于升高的邻里威胁群体特征与较高的外化问题相关。综上所述，这些结果提供了证据表明，集中在青少年邻里环境中的威胁之间的相互作用以及减弱的执行网络功能可能会导致外化问题的风险增加。
