Emotional trade-offs of neural sensitivity to social threat and reward in adolescent girls

Contemporary affective neuroscience perspectives consider possible trade-offs of neural attunement to social cues for adolescent development. Integrating these perspectives with interpersonal theories emphasizing robust belonging needs during adolescence, this study examined whether exposure to naturally occurring interpersonal stressors was differentially associated with loneliness and depression contingent on adolescent girls' neural sensitivity to cues indicating social threat (non-belonging) vs. reward (belonging). Eighty-six adolescent girls (Mage = 16.31, SD = .84; 66.3% White) completed a social feedback task during an fMRI scan and reported on their loneliness and depression. Elevated interpersonal stress exposure was associated with more depression in girls who showed dampened but not heightened activation in the salience and social processing networks in response to threat (vs. reward). In the context of low interpersonal stress, however, dampened activation to threat (vs. reward) was associated with particularly low levels of depression. These effects were partially accounted for by self-reported loneliness. This research supports current trends towards developing a more refined perspective on the adaptational value of neural attunement to social cues for adolescent development, suggesting that the balance of social threat vs. reward sensitivity can confer emotional risks or benefits by shaping how adolescent girls navigate diverse social contexts.