Cognitive and Global Morphometry Trajectories as Predictors of Youth Persistent Distressing Psychotic-Like Experiences.

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) may arise from genetic and environmental risk leading to worsening cognitive and morphometry metrics over time, which in turn lead to worsening PLEs. Analyses used three waves of unique longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study data (ages 9-13) to test whether changes in cognition and global morphometry metrics attenuate associations between genetic and environmental risk with persistent distressing PLEs. Multigroup univariate latent growth models examined three waves of cognitive metrics and global morphometry separately for three PLE groups: persistent distressing PLEs (n=356), transient distressing PLEs (n=408), and low-level PLEs (n=7901). Persistent distressing PLEs showed greater decreases (i.e., more negative slopes) of cognition and morphometry metrics over time compared to those in low-level PLE groups. Analyses also provided novel evidence for extant theories that worsening cognition and global morphometry metrics may partially account for associations between environmental risk with persistent distressing PLEs.