A Longitudinal Neuroimaging Study of Adolescent Girls’ Mentalizing and Perspective-Taking Tendencies

Description: This study uses data from a larger longitudinal project named the Transitions in Adolescent Girls (TAG) study which is described in detail in a previous publication (Barendse et al., 2020). Methods reported herein focus on data collected from the first and second time points of the project. 174 adolescents girls1 aged 10.00-12.99 years (M=11.64) participated in a longitudinal study of social and neural development. Girls were recruited from the community, together with one of their parents/guardians. Inclusion criteria included: 10-12.99 years old at time of enrollment, fluent in English; and having normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Exclusion criteria included taking psychotropic medication at time of enrollment; MRI contraindications (as described on the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging screening materials, including claustrophobia and presence of ferromagnetic material in the body); reporting or suspecting being pregnant; and diagnoses of a developmental disability, psychotic disorder, or behavioral disorder (including autism). Families were recruited primarily through recruitment letters distributed by schools to families with children registered as female students in the greater Eugene/Springfield area (Lane County, Oregon, USA), and to a minimal extent from secure databases of people who registered their interest in our lab’s/department’s research, recruitment flyers posted around the community or disseminated at community events, and through snow-balling efforts. Parents/guardians gave informed consent and adolescents gave assent to participate. Ethics approval was received from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Oregon.

Communities: developmental