Family Interaction fMRI Study, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre

Adolescence marks a period of increased risk for major depressive disorder (MDD). One environmental change that has been identified as important in adolescent emotional adjustment and depression is the renegotiation of roles in the family home as adolescents become more independent. Indeed, family relationships appear to be stronger predictors of adolescent depression than peer relationships , and the way adolescents react to and regulate their emotions during interactions with their parents has been found to be associated with adolescent depressive symptoms. In the current study, we assessed whether adolescent depressive symptoms were associated with neural activity during exposure to their own mother's affective behavior. Thirty adolescents (18 Females, M age 17.35, SD 0.43), recruited from the community (from the Adolescent Development Study) participated in an fMRI task that used digitized video segments of their own mother's, as well as an unfamiliar mother’s affective behavior as stimuli.

Time period: 2009-2010