Structural brain correlates of externalizing traits and symptoms in the IMAGEN sample

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Nathaniel L Phillips - , University of Georgia (Author)
  • Brinkley M Sharpe - , University of Georgia (Author)
  • Courtland S Hyatt - , Emory University (Author)
  • Max M Owens - , Michigan State University (Author)
  • Nathan T Carter - , Purdue University (Author)
  • Donald R Lynam - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Tobias Banaschewski - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Arun L W Bokde - , King's College London (KCL) (Author)
  • Gareth Barker - , University of Mannheim (Author)
  • Sylvane Desrivières - , University of Mannheim (Author)
  • Herta Flor - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Antoine Grigis - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Penny Gowland - , Free University of Berlin (Author)
  • Andreas Heinz - , National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB) (Author)
  • Rüdiger Brühl - , INSERM - Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Author)
  • Jean-Luc Martinot - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot - , Sorbonne Université (Author)
  • Eric Artiges - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Frauke Nees - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Herve Lemaitre - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Tomáš Paus - , University of Toronto (Author)
  • Luise Poustka - , TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)
  • Nathalie Holz - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Christian Baeuchl - , Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Author)
  • Michael N Smolka - , Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Author)
  • Nilakshi Vaidya - , Fudan University (Author)
  • Henrik Walter - , University of Vermont (Author)
  • Robert Whelan - , King's College London (KCL) (Author)
  • Gunter Schumann - , Fudan University (Author)
  • Hugh Garavan - , University of Vermont (Author)
  • Joshua D Miller - , University of Georgia (Author)

Abstract

The evidence supporting the presence of individual brain structure correlates of the externalizing spectrum (EXT) is sparse and mixed. To date, large-sample studies of brain-EXT relations have mainly found null to very small effects by focusing exclusively on either EXT-related personality traits (e.g., Hyatt et al., 2022) or EXT-related disorders/symptoms (e.g., Mewton et al., 2022). In this preregistered study using IMAGEN data (N = 1,370), we investigated the structural brain correlates of EXT factors that comprise both personality (e.g., antagonism) and psychopathology constructs (e.g., conduct disorder) across levels of morphometric specificity. Brain morphometry was operationalized in terms of omnibus measures (e.g., total brain volume), subcortical volume, and Desikan atlas regions (N = 161 structural magnetic resonance imaging metrics). We operationalized our integrated personality-psychopathology EXT through exploratory factor analyses of EXT-related measures, which identified two dimensions-nonsubstance use and substance use-and one overarching EXT domain. The results were consistent with previous large-sample neuroscientific investigations of EXT: The vast majority of relations were null, and all effect sizes were very small (largest marginal R² < .02). Preregistered supplementary analyses indicated that all significant relations found were driven by total intracranial volume and sex of the participant and became nonsignificant following the inclusion of these covariates. We conclude with suggestions regarding the importance of relevant covariates and large samples in clinical neuroscientific investigations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)43-56
Number of pages14
JournalPersonality disorders : theory, research, and treatment
Volume16
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85216052394
ORCID /0000-0001-5615-3645/work/203808125
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/203814395

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adolescent, Adult, Brain/diagnostic imaging, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Personality/physiology, Substance-Related Disorders/diagnostic imaging, Young Adult, neuroscience, externalizing, personality, psychopathology