Ke Zhao

Background: Elevated impulsivity and temporal processing deficits are key risk factors for adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, their joint neural substrates and specific contributions to NSSI remain inadequately characterized. This study aimed to elucidate the behavioral and neural interplay between these cognitive domains in adolescents with NSSI. Methods: We recruited 44 adolescents with NSSI and 37 typically developing (TD) controls. Participants completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), a Choice Delay Task (CDT), and time perception assessments (discrimination and estimation tasks). A subsample (33 NSSI, 30 TD) subsequently underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to monitor prefrontal hemodynamic responses during an oddball task, a paradigm assessing inhibitory control. Results: Compared to TD controls, adolescents with NSSI exhibited significantly elevated trait impulsivity (BIS-11), heightened delay aversion (preference for immediate rewards in CDT), impaired short-interval temporal discrimination (600ms), and a consistent underestimation of time intervals (7s, 12s, 34s, and 90s). Stepwise regression analysis identified BIS-11 scores, 600ms discrimination thresholds, and 90s estimation bias as significant predictors of NSSI. Neuroimaging revealed that the NSSI group showed lower accuracy on the oddball task and significant hypoactivation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC). Crucially, reduced L-DLPFC activation was associated with greater time estimation errors (at 12s and 34s) and increased NSSI. Conclusion: Adolescents with NSSI display a distinct neurocognitive phenotype characterized by high impulsivity and distorted time perception. These deficits may be associated with reduced activation in the L-DLPFC. Our findings suggest that NSSI involves a dual failure of inhibitory control and temporal processing, indicating that interventions targeting prefrontal regulation may offer novel strategies for risk reduction.

In clinical samples of adolescents with depression, the underlying causes of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) across different developmental stages of adole

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is prevalent among adolescents. Adverse psychosocial factors (e.g., childhood trauma, peer bullying) and altered pain hyposensitivity are core risk factors for NSSI. These factors have been associated with structural changes in brain regions involved in pain processing, which may relate to differences in pain perception. However, the specific relationship between cortical structure and pain perception in NSSI adolescents remains unclear. This study aims to investigated cortical structure and structural covariance network alterations in NSSI adolescents, analyzing associations with pain sensitivity changes and adverse psychosocial factors. 44 NSSI adolescents and 37 healthy controls underwent MRI scans and clinical assessments. Cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (CSA) values per brain region were obtained for both groups and used to generate a structural covariance matrix. Group comparisons of cortical structure and network properties were performed, followed by correlation analyses integrating psychosocial questionnaires and pain sensitivity metrics. The NSSI group showed significantly reduced CT in the right cingulate isthmus cortex. This reduction negatively correlated with the severity of peer bullying and childhood trauma, as well as the bilateral pain tolerance. Regarding structural covariance networks, the NSSI group exhibited reduced global properties, alongside two key nodal alterations: a decrease in nodal betweenness centrality in the rostral left middle frontal gyrus (based on CT), which correlated with childhood trauma severity, and an increase in nodal degree centrality in the left lingual gyrus (based on CSA), which was associated with experiences of physical bullying. This study revealed brain structure and structural network alterations in NSSI adolescents, linked to changed pain perception and adverse psychosocial factors. Our findings suggest associations between adverse psychosocial factors and altered pain perception in NSSI, which coincide with brain structural and network changes and may reflect heightened vulnerability to NSSI behavior. Clinical trial number: not applicable.

The functional aspects of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents represent a complex phenomenon requiring deeper understanding. While research has identified various NSSI functions, including emotional regulation, attention-seeking, and social avoidance, the field lacks comprehensive analysis of how these functions cluster into distinct profiles. Understanding these functional profiles is crucial for developing targeted interventions. A cross-sectional study of 1,783 adolescents (1,464 girls, 318 boys) aged 12–18 years was conducted across 14 psychiatric or general hospitals in nine Chinese provinces. Participants completed the Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation (FASM), which assesses 22 distinct NSSI functions across three primary dimensions: emotional regulation, attention-seeking, and social avoidance. Additional measures included the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify distinct patterns in NSSI functions, with model selection based on fit indices including AIC, BIC, entropy, and LMRT. Latent profile analysis revealed four distinct functional profiles: low attention-seeking-high social avoidance (LA-HS, 19.7%), high attention-seeking-high social avoidance (HA-HS, 9.5%), low attention-seeking and social avoidance (LA-LS, 57.8%), and high attention-seeking-low social avoidance (HA-LS, 13.0%). The HA-HS profile demonstrated the most severe clinical presentation, showing significantly elevated scores in NSSI frequency (M = 26.160, SD = 9.771), anxiety (GAD-7: M = 16.265, SD = 4.951), and depression (PHQ-9: M = 20.612, SD = 6.003). The LA-HS profile showed the second-highest severity (NSSI: M = 25.800, SD = 10.058; GAD-7: M = 14.775, SD = 5.376; PHQ-9: M = 19.966, SD = 5.938). Both profiles also demonstrated significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation (HA-HS: 77.6%; LA-HS: 79.2%) compared to other profiles. Our findings reveal distinct patterns in how adolescents utilize NSSI functionally, particularly regarding attention-seeking and social avoidance dimensions. These functional profiles show meaningful associations with psychological outcomes, suggesting that understanding NSSI functions, rather than just behaviors, may be crucial for assessment and intervention. The identification of these distinct functional profiles among Chinese adolescents highlights the importance of function-specific approaches in clinical assessment and treatment planning.

Childhood trauma and alexithymia are significant risk factors for adolescent mental health issues. Prior research has linked these factors to psychopathology, but the complexities of their interrelation remain underexplored. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between various forms of childhood trauma and alexithymia in adolescents with depressive and bipolar disorders. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and network analysis were utilized on data from 2343 Chinese adolescents (aged 12–18 years, 77.93% female) diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder. Measures included the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). SEM demonstrated a significant correlation between childhood trauma and alexithymia. Network analysis identified emotional abuse and difficulty identifying feelings as central nodes. Emotional abuse emerged as a key factor for difficulty in emotional identification among adolescents. This study highlights the need for early intervention and the importance of emotional nurturing in childhood to prevent long-term socioemotional difficulties.

Introduction: One of the most common mental disorders in the perinatal period is depression, which is associated with impaired emotional functioning due to alterations in different cognitive aspects including thought and facial emotion recognition. These functional impairment may affect emerging maternal sensitivity and have lasting consequences for the dyadic relationship. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of depressive symptoms on the attention bias of infant stimuli during pregnancy.Methods: Eighty-six pregnant women completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and an eye-tracking task comprising infant-related emotion images. All participants showed biased attention to infant-related images.Results: First, compared to healthy pregnant women, pregnant women with depression symptoms initially directed their attention to infant-related stimuli more quickly (F (1, 84) = 6.175, p = 0.015, η² = 0.068). Second, the two groups of pregnant women paid attention to the positive infant stimuli faster than the neutral infant stimuli, and the first fixation latency bias score was significantly smaller than that of the infant-related negative stimulus (p = 0.007). Third, compared with the neutral stimulus, the non-depression group showed a longer first gaze duration to the negative stimulus of infants (p = 0.019), while the depressive symptoms group did not show this difference.Conclusion: We speculate that structural and functional changes in affective motivation and cognitive-attention brain areas may induce these attentional bias patterns. These results provide suggestions for the implementation of clinical intervention programs to correct the attention bias of antenatal depressed women.