Association of Habenula Activity and Volume with Pediatric Irritability: Inconsistent Parenting as a Moderator

Irritability significantly impacts mental health and well-being of youth and their families, and is associated with adverse concurrent and future outcomes. Brain abnormalities in the reward system is a potential mechanism underlying irritability. However, habenula, a region closely linked to reward processing, has not been investigated in youth irritability. Additionally, previous research has rarely explored how inconsistent parenting interacts with neurobiological factors to contribute to youth irritability. Thus, this study examined the associations of habenula activity and volume with irritability and the moderating role of inconsistent parenting in these associations. Habenula activity and volume in 50 youth with varying levels of irritability (mean age ± SD = 11.3 ± 2.0 years; 44% female) were measured during a frustration-inducing fMRI paradigm. Trait irritability was assessed using parent- and child-reported Affective Reactivity Index. State irritability was measured using child-reported frustration during fMRI. Inconsistent parenting was assessed using parent-reported Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Results showed interactions between left habenula volume and inconsistent parenting on trait (ΔR2=0.10, b=0.13, p=.046) and state irritability (ΔR2=0.18, b=0.34, p=.026), which became non-significant following false discovery rate (FDR) correction. No main effects of habenula activity and volume on trait or state irritability were found. This study is the first to examine the role of habenula in youth irritability in the context of inconsistent parenting. Future research with longitudinal data is needed to verify our findings, and more studies are warranted to examine environmental factors and their interactions with neurobiological factors in conferring risk of child psychopathology.