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Neural Biomarker and Early Temperament Predict Increased Internalizing Symptoms After a Natural Disaster

This study was presented at a symposium of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR), Minneapolis, MN, September 21-25, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.02.005Get rights and content

Objective

Although most people will experience a traumatic event at some point in their life, only some will develop significant psychological symptoms in the aftermath. In the current study, we use a preexisting longitudinal study located in Long Island to examine the impact of Hurricane Sandy on internalizing symptoms in a large sample of children. We focused on temperamental fear and a biomarker of risk for anxiety, the error-related negativity (ERN). The ERN is a negative deflection in the event-related potential (ERP) occurring when individuals make mistakes and is increased in anxious individuals.

Method

The final sample consisted of 223 children who had undergone an observational assessment of fear at age 3 years and an electroencephalogram assessment of the ERN at age 6 years. At the age 9 year assessment, internalizing symptoms were assessed, and then again after the hurricane (∼65 weeks later).

Results

A significant three-way interaction among fearfulness, hurricane stressors, and the ERN in predicting posthurricane increases in internalizing symptoms suggested that children who were high in fear at age 3 years and experienced elevated hurricane stressors were characterized by subsequent increases in internalizing symptoms, but only when they were also characterized by an increased ERN at age 6 years.

Conclusion

These findings support a diathesis–stress model, suggesting that early temperament and prestressor biological markers confer risk for increased psychological symptoms following environmental stressors.

Section snippets

Method

The sample for the current study consisted of 223 children (initially between the ages of 3.00 and 4.09 years, SD = 0.26) and their mothers from a larger longitudinal study of 559 children (for details, see Olino et al.8). Participants were recruited through a commercial mailing list and screened to select children with no significant medical problems or developmental disabilities and who had at least one English-speaking biological parent who could participate in the study. As part of this

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

As previously reported,40, 41, 45 the ERP response was more negative following errors than correct responses (F1, 222 = 90.08, p < .001) (Figure 1). Means and standard deviations as well as Pearson correlations are presented for all main study variables in Table 1. Hurricane stressors related to posthurricane internalizing symptoms (r221 = 0.16, p < 05). In addition, prehurricane internalizing symptoms predicted posthurricane internalizing symptoms (r221 = 0.56, p < .01), as well as

Discussion

The current study examined the ERN in conjunction with temperamental fear as prospective predictors of increased symptoms following exposure to Hurricane Sandy in a large sample of children. Results suggested that children who were high in fear at age 3 years and who experienced elevated hurricane stressors were characterized by subsequent increases in internalizing symptoms, but only when they were also characterized by an increased ERN at age 6 years. These findings support a moderated

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      Indeed, stressful life events have been found to predict increases in anxiety across time (Casline et al., 2021; Faravelli, 1985; Green et al., 2010; Hankin et al., 2004; Young and Dietrich, 2015). Additionally, two studies have found that the ERN interacts with stress to predict changes in anxiety symptoms prospectively (Banica et al., 2020; Meyer et al., 2017b). Considering this, we have previously hypothesized that stressful life events may also impact the ERN early in development (Meyer et al., 2019).

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    This study was funded by a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant (R01 MH069942).

    Drs. Kotov and Klein served as the statistical experts for this research.

    Disclosure: Drs. Meyer, Danielson, Danzig, Bhatia, Black, Bromet, Carlson, Hajcak, Kotov, and Klein report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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