Psychiatric symptomatology during childhood predicts persistent mental illness later in life. While neuroimaging methodologies are routinely applied cross-sectionally to the study of child and adolescent psychopathology, the nature of the relationship between childhood symptoms and the underlying neurodevelopmental processes remains unclear. The authors used a prospective population-based cohort to delineate the longitudinal relationship between childhood psychiatric problems and brain development.

A total of 845 children participated in the study. Psychiatric symptoms were measured with the parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist at ages 6 and 10. MRI data were collected at ages 8 and 10. Cross-lagged panel models and linear mixed-effects models were used to determine the associations between psychiatric symptom ratings and quantitative anatomic and white matter microstructural measures over time.

Higher ratings for externalizing and internalizing symptoms at baseline predicted smaller increases in both subcortical gray matter volume and global fractional anisotropy over time. The reverse relationship did not hold; thus, baseline measures of gray matter and white matter were not significantly related to changes in symptom ratings over time.

Children presenting with behavioral problems at an early age show differential subcortical and white matter development. Most neuroimaging models tend to explain brain differences observed in psychopathology as an underlying (causal) neurobiological substrate. However, the present work suggests that future neuroimaging studies showing effects that are pathogenic in nature should additionally explore the possibility of the downstream effects of psychopathology on the brain.

儿童时期的精神症状预示着生命后期会持续存在精神疾病。虽然神经影像学方法通常横断面应用于儿童和青少年的精神病理学研究，但儿童症状与潜在神经发育过程之间关系的性质仍不清楚。作者使用了基于人群的前瞻性队列来描述儿童期精神病问题与大脑发育之间的纵向关系。

共有845名儿童参加了这项研究。使用父母评定的6和10岁儿童行为检查表测量精神症状。在8和10岁时收集MRI数据。使用交叉滞后的面板模型和线性混合效应模型来确定精神症状等级与精神症状之间的关联。随着时间的推移，定量的解剖和白质显微结构测量。

随着时间的推移，较高的对症状的内在化和内在化症状的评级表明，皮层下灰质体积和总体分数各向异性随时间的增加较小。反向关系不成立。因此，灰质和白质的基线测量值与症状等级随时间的变化没有显着相关。

在幼年时出现行为问题的儿童表现出不同的皮层下和白质发育。大多数神经影像学模型倾向于将心理病理学中观察到的大脑差异解释为潜在的（因果）神经生物学底物。但是，目前的工作表明，未来的神经影像研究显示出自然的致病作用，应该进一步探索心理病理学对大脑产生下游影响的可能性。