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Neurophysiology, Estrogen, and Stress Exposure in the Emergence of Depression in Adolescent Girls

NCT03450135 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 53

Last updated 2020-11-24

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The prevalence of adolescent depression is steadily rising in the U.S., especially among adolescent girls. Currently 20% of adolescent girls experience major depression compared with 6% of boys (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). The profound gender disparity in depression that emerges at puberty, but not before, implicates a role of ovarian steroid hormones in promoting affective (mood) symptoms in adolescent girls. In addition to dramatic physical maturation and a rapidly changing reproductive hormone environment at puberty, adolescence is also a time of exposure to substantial psychosocial stress, particularly in girls. It is well documented that stress interferes with the maturation of neurodevelopmental trajectories and is a critical precipitating factor in the pathway to psychopathology. However, the neuropathophysiological mechanisms linking stress exposure and sensitivity to ovarian hormone fluctuations at puberty to the onset and maintenance of depression symptoms in adolescence have yet to be elucidated, and is the purpose of this research.

Conditions

  • Adolescent Development
  • Stress
  • Emotional Disturbances

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Trier Social Stress Test

Participants will perform an acute psychosocial stress manipulation (Trier Social Stress Test) involving a speech task and challenging mental arithmetic.

BEHAVIORAL

Emotional go/no-go task

Participants will perform an emotional go/no-go paradigm to examine electrophysiological (EEG) correlates of cognitive and affective processing.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Elizabeth Andersen, PhD · University of North Carolina

Eligibility

Min Age
11 Years
Max Age
14 Years
Sex
FEMALE
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2018-02-25
Primary Completion
2020-06-30
Completion
2020-06-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03450135 on ClinicalTrials.gov