4 87 Neural and affective responses to prolonged eye contact with parents and unfamiliar others in depressed and non-depressed adolescents INTRODUCTION Eye contact facilitates feelings of connectedness with others (Emery, 2000; Hietanen, 2018) and particularly prolonged eye contact has been associated with stronger positive affect (Kuzmanovic et al., 2009; Wever et al., 2022). Within the parent-child context, eye contact constitutes one of the first acts of reciprocity between a parent and child after birth and is considered an important facilitator of the parent-child bond (Robson, 1967). Being able to draw the attention of one’s parent by making eye contact enables infants to signal their physical and emotional needs to their parent. At the same time, the rewarding nature of positive affect through eye contact with a child is thought to reinforce sensitive caregiving behavior in parents (Robson, 1967). In a prior study we showed that eye contact between a parent and child is still relevant during adolescence, since parents reported a better mood and feel more connected in response to eye contact with their adolescent child compared to unfamiliar others (Wever et al., 2022). However, adolescents’ neural and affective responses to eye contact with their parent have not been studied, yet. Adolescence is characterized by substantial transitions in the socio-emotional domain (Crone & Dahl, 2012). This is also reflected in the fact that adolescents start to become more independent from their parents and focus more on peers, although parental support remains positively associated with adolescents’ wellbeing and mental health (Baumrind, 1991; Yap et al., 2014). Adolescents show enhanced sensitivity to social evaluation, with negative social experiences (e.g., rejection) particularly inducing negative feelings (Vijayakumar et al., 2017; Will et al., 2016). Moreover, the increased sensitivity to social evaluation combined with exposure to social adversity has been linked to the onset of depression in adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012; Dahl, 2004; Giedd & Rapoport, 2010; Hankin & Abramson, 2001; Wilson et al., 2015). Common characteristics of adolescent depression are difficulties in the social domain, including social isolation and dysfunctional interpersonal relationships (Hammen, 2009; Hammen et al., 2008), putting a strain on their relationships with both parents and peers (Babore et al., 2016; Branje et al., 2010; Heaven et al., 2004; Sheeber et al., 2001). Moreover, depressed adolescents tend to perceive their parents as less warm and more critical and report a lower parent-child relationship quality compared to non-depressed adolescents (Branje et al., 2010; Sheeber & Sorensen, 1998; Yap et al., 2010). One hypothesis is that, similar to adults with a depression (Suffel et al., 2020), depressed adolescents have more difficulties to attune to others during social interactions and may show altered neural responses in networks supporting social cognition. As such, examining how adolescents respond to eye contact with their parents and unknown others, and whether these responses differ between depressed and non-depressed adolescents in terms of their neural and affective responses might elucidate processes regarding difficulties in interpersonal functioning in depressed adolescents and whether this concerns interactions in general or is specifically relevant to the parent-child context.
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