Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Study links parental depression to brain changes and risk-taking in adolescents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study concludes that parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk taking in adolescent children, likely leading to more risk-taking and rule-breaking behaviors. While previous research has found associations between clinically depressed parents and their teenagers’ risk taking, the new study is the first to find corresponding changes in the adolescents’ brains.

The study is reported in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

“This is the first empirical evidence to show that parental depression influences children’s behavior through the change in the adolescent’s brain,” said University of Illinois graduate student Yang Qu, who led the study with U. of I. psychology professor Eva Telzer.

“There are a lot of changes happening in the teen years, especially when we are thinking about risk-taking behaviors,” Telzer said.

The researchers followed a group of 23 adolescents, 15 to 17 years old, with cognitive testing and brain imaging at the beginning and end of the 18-month study. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers measured changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain while the study subjects clicked a button to inflate a computerized balloon. The goal was to inflate the balloon as much as possible without popping it. More clicks earned the teens a greater monetary reward, but if it popped, they earned nothing.

“The more risky they are in real life, the more risky they are on the task as well,” Telzer said.

The researchers also collected information on the adolescents’ rule-breaking behaviors, such as sneaking out without parental permission, substance abuse and partying.

To measure parental depression, the team collected data from the parents on their own depressive symptoms, including feelings like “I couldn’t shake off the blues” and “Everything I did was an effort.” Telzer and Qu measured these symptoms in parents who were not currently being treated for clinical depression.

They found that adolescents whose parents had greater depressive symptoms increased their risk taking over the course of the study. The team also saw changes in how the teens’ brains responded to risk taking.

“At the neural level, they show increases over time in activation in the ventral striatum,” Telzer said. “The ventral striatum is a key brain region involved in risk taking, and it has also been linked in some studies to depression.”

These new findings help to explain the relationship between parental depression and an adolescent’s risky behaviors, Qu said.

“Even if you are not clinically depressed and seeking out help, your teen is probably picking up on the negative emotions that you may be experiencing,” Telzer said. This unconscious awareness can influence teens’ risk-taking behaviors and also shape the way their brains respond to risky situations.

                                           

To reach Eva Telzer, call 217-300-0383; email ehtelzer@illinois.edu.

The paper “Links Between Parental Depression and Longitudinal Changes in Youths’ Neural Sensitivity to Rewards” is available online and from the News Bureau.

Read Next

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Arts Black and white photo of a grand piano sitting in a room with a brick wall lit by the sun in the background.

Krannert Art Museum exhibition shows midcentury modern homes as places for artistic production

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Several Champaign-Urbana homes designed by local architects between the 1940s and 1990s were also made as settings for artistic performances and cultural conversations. An exhibition at Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines how four midcentury modern homes served as incubators for avant-garde culture in the community. “Making Place […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010