The Unique and Interactive Roles of Neural Reward Sensitivity and Family Conflict in Predicting Youth’s Internalizing Problems: A Biopsychosocial Approach

Abstract

Adolescence is a period marked by heightened neural sensitivity to reward, which is associated with less internalizing problems (Hanson et al., 2015; Ng et al., 2019). However, it remains unknown how reward sensitivity may interact with family environment in predicting youth’s internalizing problems. Therefore, the current research took a biopsychosocial approach to examine this question. Data were obtained from baseline (T1) and one-year follow-up (T2) of the ABCD study. At T1, youth (N = 8762; mean age = 9.93 years; 51% boys) completed the Monetary Incentive Delay task during fMRI scanning, which measured neural activity during reward processing. Moreover, family conflict at T1 and youth’s internalizing problems at T1 and T2 were assessed. Youth’s ventral striatum activity during reward receipt at T1 predicted fewer internalizing problems at T2, controlling for internalizing problems at T1 and demographic covariates. Family conflict at T1 predicted youth’s more internalizing problems over time. Importantly, there was an interaction effect between ventral striatum activity and family conflict. When family conflict was low, greater neural sensitivity to reward predicted youth’s fewer internalizing problems over time; in contrast, youth from high-conflict families showed high levels of internalizing problems regardless of reward sensitivity. The findings suggest that adverse family environments hinder the positive role of reward sensitivity in youth’s psychological adjustment. Given that youth typically show heightened sensitivity to reward, it is crucial to cultivate a supportive family environment where youth have enough exposure to social rewards from family members instead of stress or conflict.