Amygdala Resting Connectivity Mediates Association Between Maternal Aggression and Adolescent Major Depression: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract Objective The parent–adolescent relationship is an important predictor of adolescent mental health, especially depressive disorders. This relationship is constructed in the context of maturing emotion neurobiology and may help to shape such neurobiology in ways that are important for current and future mental health. Amygdala resting-state functional networks have been linked to depression, but whether such resting connectivity is associated with parent affective behaviors, or acts as a salient mediator between parenting and risk for depressive disorder, is unknown. Method In the current study of 128 individuals, we used a 7-year longitudinal design to examine how observed maternal aggressive behavior during mother–adolescent interactions in early adolescence (12 years) predicted amygdala (whole and subregion)-based resting connectivity in mid adolescence (16 years). In 101 of those participants, we then analyzed whether altered amygdala resting state connectivity mediated the association between maternal aggressive behavior and the first onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) in late adolescence (19 years). Results We found that maternal aggression was related to resting-state functional connectivity between the amygdala and right superior temporal/posterior insula/Heschl's gyrus, bilateral visual cortex, and left temporal/insula cortex (the latter being driven by the centromedial amygdala subregion, p Conclusion These findings are consistent with past literature documenting the importance of amygdala resting networks for adolescent depression but further suggest the importance of parental affective (particularly aggressive) behavior in the development of such functional connectivity patterns during this period of peak onset for mental health disorders.