Brain morphological pattern is associated with the presence, severity and transition of transdiagnostic psychiatric disorders in preadolescents

Hot Off the Press – September 21, 2026

Published in Nature Mental Health by Nanyu Kuang and Yihong Yang, et al. of the NIDA IRP Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Section.

Summary

Researchers analyzed brain scans, cognitive performance, and measures of emotional and behavioral problems from 8,672 children ages 9–10 in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. They identified a pattern of brain structure that was associated with both better cognitive performance and fewer psychological and behavioral problems. The pattern reflected several features across the brain, including differences in cortical surface area, volume, and thickness.

Children with lower scores on this brain pattern tended to have more psychiatric diagnoses, regardless of the specific type of disorder. The pattern was also related to mental health over the following two years: children who remained free of psychiatric diagnoses generally had higher scores, while those with persistent diagnoses had lower scores. Individual differences in the brain pattern were largely stable over the two-year period.

The findings suggest that aspects of brain development may reflect a broad continuum associated with vulnerability to, or resilience against, mental health problems rather than being specific to individual psychiatric disorders. However, the study was observational and most participants did not have a psychiatric diagnosis. The brain pattern is therefore not a clinical screening or diagnostic tool; further studies, including research in populations with more severe psychiatric disorders, are needed to determine its potential clinical usefulness.

Publication Information

Kuang, Nanyu; Hammond, Christopher J.; Salmeron, Betty Jo; Xiao, Xiang; Wang, Danni; Murray, Laura; Gu, Hong; Zhai, Tianye; Zheng, Hui; Hill, Justine; Scavnicky, Maria; Lu, Hanbing; Janes, Amy; Ross, Thomas J.; Yang, Yihong

Brain morphological pattern is associated with the presence, severity and transition of transdiagnostic psychiatric disorders in preadolescents Journal Article

In: Nature Mental Health, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 1404–1415, 2026, ISBN: 2731-6076.

Abstract | Links

@article{cite-keyh,

title = {Brain morphological pattern is associated with the presence, severity and transition of transdiagnostic psychiatric disorders in preadolescents},

author = {Nanyu Kuang and Christopher J. Hammond and Betty Jo Salmeron and Xiang Xiao and Danni Wang and Laura Murray and Hong Gu and Tianye Zhai and Hui Zheng and Justine Hill and Maria Scavnicky and Hanbing Lu and Amy Janes and Thomas J. Ross and Yihong Yang},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00704-7},

isbn = {2731-6076},

year  = {2026},

date = {2026-08-20},

journal = {Nature Mental Health},

volume = {4},

number = {9},

pages = {1404–1415},

abstract = {Cognitive function, psychological processes, mental states and behaviors are key dimensions of mental disorders across diagnostic categories, but whether they are linked to common or distinct brain morphological patterns underlying risk or resilience remains unclear. The current study is a longitudinal investigation of 8,672 youths from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study aged 9–10 years at baseline (4,412 male; 4,260 female). A machine learning approach based on canonical correlation analysis was used to identify latent dimensional associations of cortical morphology (surface area, cortical and subcortical volume, cortical thickness and sulcal/gyral depth) with multidomain behavioral assessments, including cognitive scores and psychological measures indexing motivation, impulse control, mental states and behaviors across a continuum from healthy to pathological. We identified a robust latent brain structural variate across morphological measures that correlated positively with cognitive performance and negatively with psychological measures indexing greater psychopathology. Higher scores on this brain variate reflected larger cortical surface area and cortical volume, especially in the temporal gyri, together with a posterior–anterior gradient in cortical thickness, showing greater thickness in occipital, parietal and temporal cortices and lower thickness in cingulate and frontal regions. This brain variate and the related cognitive–psychological–behavioral variate remained stable and showed a dose-dependent relationship with cumulative psychiatric diagnoses assessed concurrently and at the 2-year follow-up, with lower brain variate scores associated with higher numbers of comorbid diagnoses. Brain scores were also associated with longitudinal transitions between healthy and diagnosed states: lower baseline scores associated with persistent psychiatric diagnoses and higher baseline scores associated with persistent healthy states, suggesting a vulnerability–resilience continuum for psychopathology. These findings advance the neurodevelopmental understanding of psychiatric disorders and highlight the potential utility of morphology-informed approaches for early screening and intervention in youth.},

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Cognitive function, psychological processes, mental states and behaviors are key dimensions of mental disorders across diagnostic categories, but whether they are linked to common or distinct brain morphological patterns underlying risk or resilience remains unclear. The current study is a longitudinal investigation of 8,672 youths from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study aged 9–10 years at baseline (4,412 male; 4,260 female). A machine learning approach based on canonical correlation analysis was used to identify latent dimensional associations of cortical morphology (surface area, cortical and subcortical volume, cortical thickness and sulcal/gyral depth) with multidomain behavioral assessments, including cognitive scores and psychological measures indexing motivation, impulse control, mental states and behaviors across a continuum from healthy to pathological. We identified a robust latent brain structural variate across morphological measures that correlated positively with cognitive performance and negatively with psychological measures indexing greater psychopathology. Higher scores on this brain variate reflected larger cortical surface area and cortical volume, especially in the temporal gyri, together with a posterior–anterior gradient in cortical thickness, showing greater thickness in occipital, parietal and temporal cortices and lower thickness in cingulate and frontal regions. This brain variate and the related cognitive–psychological–behavioral variate remained stable and showed a dose-dependent relationship with cumulative psychiatric diagnoses assessed concurrently and at the 2-year follow-up, with lower brain variate scores associated with higher numbers of comorbid diagnoses. Brain scores were also associated with longitudinal transitions between healthy and diagnosed states: lower baseline scores associated with persistent psychiatric diagnoses and higher baseline scores associated with persistent healthy states, suggesting a vulnerability–resilience continuum for psychopathology. These findings advance the neurodevelopmental understanding of psychiatric disorders and highlight the potential utility of morphology-informed approaches for early screening and intervention in youth.