Neural, cognitive and psychopathological signatures of a prosocial or delinquent peer environment during early adolescence

Adolescence is a critical period for brain development, yet the impact of peer environments on brain structure, cognition, and psychopathology remains poorly understood. Here, we capitalized on data from 7806 adolescents (age = 12.02 ± 0.67) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, to determine associations between two distinct peer environments (proportion of prosocial or delinquent friends) and the structural and functional architecture of the brain, cognition, as well as behavioral and emotional dysregulation. A higher proportion of prosocial friends was associated with fewer behavioral problems and larger fronto-cingulate and striatal regions. In contrast, a higher proportion of…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 32250610208, 82271583
• MO
  Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China

  Awards: 2022ZD0208500, MOST2030
• SA
  Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality

  Award: 2018SHZDZX01
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: 2021ZD0200204
• KT
  Key Technologies Research and Development Program

  Award: 2018YFA0701400
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2018YFA0701400