The Role of School Environment in Brain Structure, Connectivity, and Mental Health in Children: A Multimodal Investigation

D Rakesh; A Zalesky; S Whittle

Journal article

The Role of School Environment in Brain Structure, Connectivity, and Mental Health in Children: A Multimodal Investigation

D Rakesh, A Zalesky, S Whittle

Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging | ELSEVIER | Published : 2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.01.006

Abstract

Background: Much work has been dedicated to understanding the effects of adverse home environments on brain development. While the school social and learning environment plays a role in child development, little work has been done to investigate the impact of the school environment on the developing brain. The goal of the present study was to examine associations between the school environment, brain structure and connectivity, and mental health. Methods: In this preregistered study we investigated these questions in a large sample of adolescents (9–10 years of age) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We examined the association between school environment and gray m..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Andrew Zalesky Author

Sarah Whittle Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Institutes of Health

Funding Acknowledgements

& nbsp;DR was supported by a Melbourne Research Scholarship, AZ was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (Grant No. 1136649) , and SW was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship Grant No. 1125504) . Data used in the preparation of this article were obtained from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (https://abcdstudy.org) held in the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive. This is a multisite, longitudinal study designed to recruit more than 10,000 children 9-10 years of age and follow them over 10 years into early adulthood. The ABCD Study is supported by the National Institutes of Health and additional federal partners under award Grant Nos. U01DA04 1048, U01DA050989, U01DA051016, U01DA041022, U01DA051018, U01DA051037, U01DA050987, U01DA041174, U01DA041106, U01D A041117, U01DA041028, U01DA041134, U01DA050988, U01DA051039, U01DA041156, U01DA041025, U01DA041120, U01DA051038, U01DA041148, U01DA041093, U01DA041089, U24DA041123, and U24DA041147. A full list of supporters is available at https://abcdstudy.org/federal-partners.html. A listing of participating sites and a complete listing of the study investigators can be found at https://abcdstudy.org/consortium_ members/. ABCD consortium investigators designed and implemented the study and/or provided data but did not necessarily participate in the analysis or writing of this report. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. federal government or ABCD consortium investigators. We thank Thibaud Ducasse for patiently helping with programming and debugging related matters. The authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.