Teen brain development may signal later mental health problems

Adolescents’ brain development may help identify future mental health problems, according to US researchers, ERR reports. A thicker cortex in brain regions that mature early was associated with a higher risk of psychiatric difficulties in the following four years.

The researchers analysed brain data from more than 11,700 children in a long-term study of adolescent development. The data included more than 29,000 MRI scans. Participants were aged 9 to 10 when the study began, and changes in their cortex thickness were tracked over six years. Independent researchers have not yet assessed the findings.

The cortex normally becomes thinner during childhood and adolescence as the brain develops and reorganises its neural connections. Different regions mature at different rates: areas that process visual information and bodily sensations develop relatively early, while regions involved in complex thinking mature later.

The study found the clearest link between brain structure at ages 9 to 10 and mental health difficulties reported four years later. The association was strongest for inwardly experienced problems, such as anxiety and depression. Cortex structure did not predict outward behavioural problems or aggression.

The researchers said the findings suggest that the timing of brain development, rather than an anomaly in one particular region, may be linked to mental health risks. They also found that only regions whose development had slowed by age 16 signalled risk.