Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood
Abstract Parsing heterogeneity in the nature of adversity exposure and neurobiological functioning may facilitate better understanding of how adversity shapes individual variation in risk for and resilience against anxiety. One putative mechanism linking adversity exposure with anxiety is disrupted...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Communications Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00193-x |
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| author | Lucinda M. Sisk Taylor J. Keding Sonia Ruiz Paola Odriozola Sahana Kribakaran Emily M. Cohodes Sarah McCauley Sadie J. Zacharek Hopewell R. Hodges Jason T. Haberman Jasmyne C. Pierre Camila Caballero Arielle Baskin-Sommers Dylan G. Gee |
| author_facet | Lucinda M. Sisk Taylor J. Keding Sonia Ruiz Paola Odriozola Sahana Kribakaran Emily M. Cohodes Sarah McCauley Sadie J. Zacharek Hopewell R. Hodges Jason T. Haberman Jasmyne C. Pierre Camila Caballero Arielle Baskin-Sommers Dylan G. Gee |
| author_sort | Lucinda M. Sisk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Parsing heterogeneity in the nature of adversity exposure and neurobiological functioning may facilitate better understanding of how adversity shapes individual variation in risk for and resilience against anxiety. One putative mechanism linking adversity exposure with anxiety is disrupted threat and safety learning. Here, we applied a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis) to characterize patterns of adversity exposure at specific developmental stages and threat/safety discrimination in corticolimbic circuitry in 120 young adults. We then compared how the resultant profiles differed in anxiety symptoms. Three latent profiles emerged: (1) a group with lower lifetime adversity, higher neural activation to threat, and lower neural activation to safety; (2) a group with moderate adversity during middle childhood and adolescence, lower neural activation to threat, and higher neural activation to safety; and (3) a group with higher lifetime adversity exposure and minimal neural activation to both threat and safety. Individuals in the second profile had lower anxiety than the other profiles. These findings demonstrate how variability in within-person combinations of adversity exposure and neural threat/safety discrimination can differentially relate to anxiety, and suggest that for some individuals, moderate adversity exposure during middle childhood and adolescence could be associated with processes that foster resilience to future anxiety. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-040915e4ad1b49908d0f6d47e91a9c83 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2731-9121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-040915e4ad1b49908d0f6d47e91a9c832025-08-20T02:59:56ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Psychology2731-91212025-03-013111610.1038/s44271-025-00193-xPerson-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthoodLucinda M. Sisk0Taylor J. Keding1Sonia Ruiz2Paola Odriozola3Sahana Kribakaran4Emily M. Cohodes5Sarah McCauley6Sadie J. Zacharek7Hopewell R. Hodges8Jason T. Haberman9Jasmyne C. Pierre10Camila Caballero11Arielle Baskin-Sommers12Dylan G. Gee13Department of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInstitute of Child Development, University of MinnesotaDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, The City College of New YorkDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Yale UniversityAbstract Parsing heterogeneity in the nature of adversity exposure and neurobiological functioning may facilitate better understanding of how adversity shapes individual variation in risk for and resilience against anxiety. One putative mechanism linking adversity exposure with anxiety is disrupted threat and safety learning. Here, we applied a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis) to characterize patterns of adversity exposure at specific developmental stages and threat/safety discrimination in corticolimbic circuitry in 120 young adults. We then compared how the resultant profiles differed in anxiety symptoms. Three latent profiles emerged: (1) a group with lower lifetime adversity, higher neural activation to threat, and lower neural activation to safety; (2) a group with moderate adversity during middle childhood and adolescence, lower neural activation to threat, and higher neural activation to safety; and (3) a group with higher lifetime adversity exposure and minimal neural activation to both threat and safety. Individuals in the second profile had lower anxiety than the other profiles. These findings demonstrate how variability in within-person combinations of adversity exposure and neural threat/safety discrimination can differentially relate to anxiety, and suggest that for some individuals, moderate adversity exposure during middle childhood and adolescence could be associated with processes that foster resilience to future anxiety.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00193-x |
| spellingShingle | Lucinda M. Sisk Taylor J. Keding Sonia Ruiz Paola Odriozola Sahana Kribakaran Emily M. Cohodes Sarah McCauley Sadie J. Zacharek Hopewell R. Hodges Jason T. Haberman Jasmyne C. Pierre Camila Caballero Arielle Baskin-Sommers Dylan G. Gee Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood Communications Psychology |
| title | Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| title_full | Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| title_fullStr | Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| title_short | Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| title_sort | person centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00193-x |
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