{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/141339"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/141339","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Executive Functioning as a Mediator of Relations Between Neural Structure and General Psychopathology in Pre-Adolescents","abstract":"Dimensional models of psychopathology conceptualize mental illness as a spectrum of manifest symptoms representing latent, higher-order domains. Evidence suggests that a general ‘p’-factor, which captures shared variation among all psychopathology symptoms has relations both to neural structure and to executive functioning (EF). However, a large portion of this work has been cross-sectional and cannot establish causation. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test longitudinal mediation of relations between neural structure and general and specific psychopathology factors via EF. Data from 9807 preadolescents (aged 9-10 at baseline) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study were utilized. Neural structure was captured via structural MRI scans at baseline, and EF was divided into inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) tasks measured at two-year-follow-up. Psychopathology at three-year-follow-up was modeled using a bi-factor confirmatory factor model previously validated within the ABCD dataset. Longitudinal mediation of 87 cortical and subcortical gray matter volume (GMV) regions was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) controlling for age, sex, total intracranial volume, and image quality. Results indicated that WM was significantly associated with all psychopathology factors, whereas IC was only associated with the internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors. Additionally, compared to IC, WM was a stronger mediator of relations between a wider range of GMV regions and the psychopathology factors. Indirect effects were negative for the externalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors, but were positive for the internalizing, somatization, and detachment factors. This study provides evidence that EF may represent a mechanistic link between altered neural structure and later psychopathology among pre-adolescents. Future work should investigate additional EF processes and include alternative models of psychopathology.","abstract_html":"Dimensional models of psychopathology conceptualize mental illness as a spectrum of manifest symptoms representing latent, higher-order domains. Evidence suggests that a general ‘p’-factor, which captures shared variation among all psychopathology symptoms has relations both to neural structure and to executive functioning (EF). However, a large portion of this work has been cross-sectional and cannot establish causation. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test longitudinal mediation of relations between neural structure and general and specific psychopathology factors via EF. Data from 9807 preadolescents (aged 9-10 at baseline) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study were utilized. Neural structure was captured via structural MRI scans at baseline, and EF was divided into inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) tasks measured at two-year-follow-up. Psychopathology at three-year-follow-up was modeled using a bi-factor confirmatory factor model previously validated within the ABCD dataset. Longitudinal mediation of 87 cortical and subcortical gray matter volume (GMV) regions was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) controlling for age, sex, total intracranial volume, and image quality. Results indicated that WM was significantly associated with all psychopathology factors, whereas IC was only associated with the internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors. Additionally, compared to IC, WM was a stronger mediator of relations between a wider range of GMV regions and the psychopathology factors. Indirect effects were negative for the externalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors, but were positive for the internalizing, somatization, and detachment factors. This study provides evidence that EF may represent a mechanistic link between altered neural structure and later psychopathology among pre-adolescents. Future work should investigate additional EF processes and include alternative models of psychopathology.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hosterman, Garrett R."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Clinical Science","degree_department":"Psychology","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Romer, Adrienne L."],"committee_members":["Hudson, Chloe C.","Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen"],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12-16","date_published":"2025-12-16","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:18:41Z","subjects":["fMRI","general psychopathology","developmental neuroscience"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10919/141339","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Romer, Adrienne L."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Hudson, Chloe C.","Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hosterman, Garrett R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-02-20T15:21:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-02-20T15:21:23Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-12-16"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Clinical Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["fMRI","general psychopathology","developmental neuroscience"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/141339"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Dimensional models of psychopathology conceptualize mental illness as a spectrum of manifest symptoms representing latent, higher-order domains. Evidence suggests that a general ‘p’-factor, which captures shared variation among all psychopathology symptoms has relations both to neural structure and to executive functioning (EF). However, a large portion of this work has been cross-sectional and cannot establish causation. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test longitudinal mediation of relations between neural structure and general and specific psychopathology factors via EF. Data from 9807 preadolescents (aged 9-10 at baseline) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study were utilized. Neural structure was captured via structural MRI scans at baseline, and EF was divided into inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) tasks measured at two-year-follow-up. Psychopathology at three-year-follow-up was modeled using a bi-factor confirmatory factor model previously validated within the ABCD dataset. Longitudinal mediation of 87 cortical and subcortical gray matter volume (GMV) regions was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) controlling for age, sex, total intracranial volume, and image quality. Results indicated that WM was significantly associated with all psychopathology factors, whereas IC was only associated with the internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors. Additionally, compared to IC, WM was a stronger mediator of relations between a wider range of GMV regions and the psychopathology factors. Indirect effects were negative for the externalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors, but were positive for the internalizing, somatization, and detachment factors. This study provides evidence that EF may represent a mechanistic link between altered neural structure and later psychopathology among pre-adolescents. Future work should investigate additional EF processes and include alternative models of psychopathology."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["Mental health concerns do not usually fall into neat categories. Instead, they often overlap, with many symptoms connected to a broader underlying tendency toward psychological distress. Researchers sometimes call this shared tendency the “p-factor,” which captures what is shared across all psychological disorders. Previous studies have found that this general risk is related both to differences in brain structure and to a set of related cognitive processes known as executive functioning. In this study, we used brain structure from MRI scans of nearly 10,000 children ages 9 to 10 years old at the start of the project. Their executive functioning, measured two years later, focused on two skills: inhibitory control (IC), or the ability to resist automatic responses; and working memory (WM), or the ability to hold and use information in the moment. One year after that, they were assessed for a wide range of mental health symptoms. We found that WM was linked to all types of mental health symptoms we measured, whereas IC was related only to neurodevelopmental, internalizing, and general mental illness. WM also played a stronger role in explaining how differences in brain structure were connected to later mental health problems. In other words, differences in certain brain regions were related to changes in both EF processes, which in turn were linked to later mental health outcomes. Overall, the findings suggest that EF process, particularly WM, may help explain how early differences in brain development are connected to later mental health challenges. Understanding this pathway could help researchers and clinicians identify early risk factors and develop interventions to support children’s cognitive skills and mental health."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Executive Functioning as a Mediator of Relations Between Neural Structure and General Psychopathology in Pre-Adolescents"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Romer, Adrienne L."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Hudson, Chloe C.","Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen"],"dc:contributor.department":["Psychology"],"dc:creator":["Hosterman, Garrett R."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-02-20T15:21:23Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-02-20T15:21:23Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-12-16"],"dc:description.abstract":["Dimensional models of psychopathology conceptualize mental illness as a spectrum of manifest symptoms representing latent, higher-order domains. Evidence suggests that a general ‘p’-factor, which captures shared variation among all psychopathology symptoms has relations both to neural structure and to executive functioning (EF). However, a large portion of this work has been cross-sectional and cannot establish causation. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test longitudinal mediation of relations between neural structure and general and specific psychopathology factors via EF. Data from 9807 preadolescents (aged 9-10 at baseline) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study were utilized. Neural structure was captured via structural MRI scans at baseline, and EF was divided into inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) tasks measured at two-year-follow-up. Psychopathology at three-year-follow-up was modeled using a bi-factor confirmatory factor model previously validated within the ABCD dataset. Longitudinal mediation of 87 cortical and subcortical gray matter volume (GMV) regions was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) controlling for age, sex, total intracranial volume, and image quality. Results indicated that WM was significantly associated with all psychopathology factors, whereas IC was only associated with the internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors. Additionally, compared to IC, WM was a stronger mediator of relations between a wider range of GMV regions and the psychopathology factors. Indirect effects were negative for the externalizing, neurodevelopmental, and general factors, but were positive for the internalizing, somatization, and detachment factors. This study provides evidence that EF may represent a mechanistic link between altered neural structure and later psychopathology among pre-adolescents. Future work should investigate additional EF processes and include alternative models of psychopathology."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["Mental health concerns do not usually fall into neat categories. Instead, they often overlap, with many symptoms connected to a broader underlying tendency toward psychological distress. Researchers sometimes call this shared tendency the “p-factor,” which captures what is shared across all psychological disorders. Previous studies have found that this general risk is related both to differences in brain structure and to a set of related cognitive processes known as executive functioning. In this study, we used brain structure from MRI scans of nearly 10,000 children ages 9 to 10 years old at the start of the project. Their executive functioning, measured two years later, focused on two skills: inhibitory control (IC), or the ability to resist automatic responses; and working memory (WM), or the ability to hold and use information in the moment. One year after that, they were assessed for a wide range of mental health symptoms. We found that WM was linked to all types of mental health symptoms we measured, whereas IC was related only to neurodevelopmental, internalizing, and general mental illness. WM also played a stronger role in explaining how differences in brain structure were connected to later mental health problems. In other words, differences in certain brain regions were related to changes in both EF processes, which in turn were linked to later mental health outcomes. Overall, the findings suggest that EF process, particularly WM, may help explain how early differences in brain development are connected to later mental health challenges. Understanding this pathway could help researchers and clinicians identify early risk factors and develop interventions to support children’s cognitive skills and mental health."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/141339"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["fMRI","general psychopathology","developmental neuroscience"],"dc:title":["Executive Functioning as a Mediator of Relations Between Neural Structure and General Psychopathology in Pre-Adolescents"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.dcmitype":["Text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Clinical Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:18:41Z"}