Cross-lagged Relationships Between Depressive Symptoms and Altered Default Mode Network Connectivity Over the Course of Adolescence

Although the peak onset of depressive symptoms occurs during adolescence, very few studies have directly examined depression-related changes in resting-state (RS) default mode network activity during adolescence, controlling for potential neural markers of risk. This study used data from a longitudinal adolescent cohort to investigate age-specific, persistent (i.e., lagged), and dynamic associations between RS functional connectivity within the default mode network and depressive symptoms during adolescence using a random intercept cross-lagged panel framework. The Neuroventure sample consisted of 151 adolescents ages 12–14 at study entry without any neurological illness who were assessed three times during a 5-year follow-up with 97% follow-up across the three assessments. Depressive symptoms were measured using the depression subscale of the Brief Symptoms Inventory. RS functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected using a 3T Siemens Magnetom Trio scanner in a single 6-minute sequence. After controlling for relationships between random intercepts, future depression risk was predicted by RS couplings in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex and anterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (β = −0.69, p = .014) and in the left inferior parietal lobule and anterior superior frontal gyrus (β = −0.43, p = .035). Increases in depressive symptoms at previous time points significantly predicted changes in functional connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the precuneus and posterior middle temporal gyrus (β = 0.37, p = .039) and between the dorsal precuneus and posterior middle temporal gyrus (β = 0.47, p = .036). This study was able to disassociate the RS brain markers of depression from those that appear to follow early-onset depression.