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Adolescence is a sensitive period for brain development and mental health, though the connection between the two is not fully understood. New research published in Imaging Neuroscience identifies a link between anxiety and specific brain circuits, which could become the targets of precision interventions to improve mental health outcomes in youth.

Many mental health disorders emerge in adolescence, emphasizing the importance of understanding associations between abnormal brain development and mental health problems. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital chose to study anxiety (including generalized and social anxiety disorders), which affects more than 30% of teens in the U.S.

They examined associations between the characteristics of brain structures and circuit organization and anxiety among a large sample of nearly 3,500 youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States.

The team, led by Caterina Stamoulis, principal investigator in the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory at Boston Children's, identified a brain circuit consisting of the cerebellum, amygdala and thalamus—three structures that play key roles in a wide range of cognitive processes as well as regulatory roles in brain function—that was altered in youth with anxiety.

Altered organization and lower strength of its connections were associated with higher anxiety and a greater likelihood of related disorders. In contrast, the efficiency and resilience (robustness) of other brain networks were protective against social and/or generalized anxiety disorders.

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