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

作者：Yu Liu, Songjun Peng, Xinran Wu, Zhaowen Liu, Zhengxu Lian, Huaxin Fan, Nanyu Kuang, Xinrui Gu, Senyou Yang, Yechen Hu, Xi Jiang, Yufeng Zhang, Wei Cheng, Jianfeng Feng, Barbara J. Sahakian, Xing‐Ming Zhao, Trevor W. Robbins, Benjamin Becker, Jie Zhang · 发表于：Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101566 · 被引用次数：50 · 研究领域：Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development、Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes、Cognitive Abilities and Testing

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 delinquent friends was linked to increased behavioral problems, lower neurocognitive performance, and decreased functional connectivity in the default-mode and fronto-striato-limbic circuits, which spatially overlapped with external dopamine density maps. Moreover, the associations between prosocial friends and behaviors were mediated by brain volumes (e.g., pallidum), while the associations between delinquent friends and behaviors were primarily mediated by fronto-striato-limbic connectivity. Prosocial friends also attenuated the development of internalizing problems, whereas delinquent friends promoted externalizing symptoms. These findings underscore the profound influence of peer environments on adolescent brain development and mental health, highlighting the need for earl...