Abstract
We tested whether adolescents with daily high identity uncertainty showed differential structural brain development across adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 150, MageT1 15.92 years) were followed across three waves, covering 4 years. Self-reported daily educational identity and structural brain data of lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC)/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial PFC, and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) was collected across three waves. All hypotheses were pre-registered. Latent class growth analyses confirmed 2 identity subgroups: an identity synthesis class (characterized by strong commitments, and low uncertainty), and an identity moratorium class (high daily identity uncertainty). Latent growth curve models revealed, on average, delayed maturation of the lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC and stable NAcc. Yet, adolescents in identity moratorium showed lower levels and less decline in NAcc gray matter volume. Lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC trajectories did not differ between identity subgroups. Exploratory analyses revealed that adolescents with higher baseline levels and delayed maturation of lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC gray matter volume, surface area, and cortical thickness reported higher baseline levels and stronger increases of in-depth exploration. These results provide insight into how individual differences in brain development relate to fluctuations in educational identity development across adolescence and young adulthood.
Highlights
One of the key tasks for adolescents is to find out who they are as a person, referred to as the process of developing a personal identity (e.g., Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1966; Meeus et al, 2010)
Longitudinal structural brain developmental patterns confirmed most of our hypotheses of decreasing lateral PFC/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and medial PFC volume, and cortical thickness and stable nucleus accumbens (NAcc) volume
Lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC surface area were stable across ages 10–25 years
Summary
One of the key tasks for adolescents is to find out who they are as a person, referred to as the process of developing a personal identity (e.g., Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1966; Meeus et al, 2010). Reconsideration of commitment represents in dividuals’ identity uncertainty and willingness to discard commitments and search for new ones (e.g., Crocetti et al, 2008; Meeus et al, 2010). For instance, that ongoing identity uncertainty (i.e., continuous reconsideration of com mitments) predicts increasing depressive symptoms during adolescence (Becht et al, 2019) and is a risk factor for developing a range of other psychosocial adjustment problems (for reviews see Meeus, 2011; Van Doeselaar et al, 2018). In the present study we examine lon gitudinal structural brain development patterns to test whether the subgroup of adolescents who experience daily identity uncertainty (Becht, Nelemans, et al, 2016) differ in their structural brain develop ment compared to adolescents who establish stable and strong identity commitments. All hypotheses of the present study were pre-registered here https://osf.io/np5hz/
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