Date of Award

2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology

Specialization

Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Sarah W. Feldstein Ewing

Abstract

The adolescent brain is becoming increasingly recognized as an important and distinct developmental period. Adolescence is also a period that has seen a recent increase in sexually transmitted infection (STI); those between ages 15-24 account for roughly 25% of the United States’ population but account for about 50% of annual STI incidents. Current behavioral-only intervention approaches have been limited in their capacity to help advance adolescent health behavior; translational approaches that utilize information about the neurological underpinnings of sexual health decision making offer the opportunity to obtain novel information about young people. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based monetary incentive delay (MID) task is one method of elucidating the decision-making process of health-behavior. This study aimed to examine neurological activation during the MID task with STI/HIV risk behavior. Participants were 149 adolescents (Mage= 16.03 [SD=1.28], 66% male), recruited as part of a larger randomized control trial, with a highly diverse sample of justice-involved youth. Sexual risk behavior was assessed using two variables, Condom Use and Risky Sex, which were compiled into one “Risky Sex Index” (RSI). Significant activation was seen in key networks involved in adolescent brain development (i.e., social processing network, mentalizing network, and salience network). Specifically, we observed significant changes to activation for the Low RSI group in the left superior temporal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, and bilateral precuneus. We also found significant changes to activation for the High RSI group in the left thalamus and the right precentral gyrus. Results from this study suggest that areas of the brain that are activated when a loss is perceived differ among the two groups. This difference is important when considering the creation and implementation of adolescent focused STI/HIV intervention and prevention techniques.

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