RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Developmental Patterning of Irritability Enhances Prediction of Psychopathology in Pre-adolescence: Improving RDoC with Developmental Science
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.04.30.070714
DO 10.1101/2020.04.30.070714
A1 Katherine S. F. Damme
A1 Lauren S. Wakschlag
A1 Margaret J. Briggs-Gowan
A1 Elizabeth S. Norton
A1 Vijay A. Mittal
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/04/30/2020.04.30.070714.abstract
AB Research has demonstrated the transdiagnostic importance of irritability in psychopathology pathways but the contribution of developmentally-unfolding patterns has only recently been explored. To address this question, irritability patterns of 110 youth from a large and diverse early childhood cohort were assessed at preschool age and at school age (∼2.5 years later) with a dimensional irritability scale designed to capture the normal:abnormal spectrum. Participants then returned at Pre-adolescence (∼6 years later) for an assessment with a structured clinical interview (internalizing/externalizing symptoms) and a magnetic resonance imaging scan. When only preschool age irritability was considered, this was a transdiagnostic predictor of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, a model including both preschool and school age irritability provided a more nuanced picture. A high preschool and decreasing school age profile of irritability predicted elevated pre-adolescence internalizing symptoms, potentially reflecting emerging coping/internalizing behavior in pre-adolescence. In contrast, a stable irritability profile across these timepoints predicted increased pre-adolescence externalizing symptoms. Further, preschool irritability (a period of rapid growth) did not predict pre-adolescent gray matter volume abnormality, an indicator of transdiagnostic clinical risk. However, irritability at school age (when gray matter volume growth is largely finished) demonstrated an interactive effect among regions; increased school age irritability predicted reduced volume in pre-adolescence emotional regions (e.g., amygdala, medial orbitofrontal cortex) and increased volume in other regions (e.g., cerebellum). Expanding the impact of RDoC’s approach yielding transdiagnostic phenotypes and multiple units of analysis, a developmentally informed approach provides critical new insights into the complex unfolding of mechanisms underlying emerging psychopathology.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.