reported internalising mental health symptoms<\/a> such as depression, anxiety and loneliness.<\/p>\nThe latest study tracked how different parts of the brain developed and interacted over time. It found that girls showed a faster rate of change than boys in brain development between the ages of 4\u00bd and six years.<\/p>\n
Researchers also examined how these childhood brain development patterns were related to depressive symptoms reported at age 13.<\/p>\n
They found that girls were 2\u00bd times more likely than boys to report depressive symptoms at 13.<\/p>\n
The study, led by the A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential (IHDP), was published in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry in April. It involved researchers from the KK Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital (KKH), National University Health System, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, and McGill University.<\/p>\n
The team used data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes birth cohort. It is a longitudinal study tracking over 1,200 Singaporean mothers and their children from pregnancy through childhood. Researchers analysed 917 brain scans from 549 children taken when they were aged 4\u00bd, 6 and 7\u00bd years.<\/p>\n
In a statement on June 3, A*STAR, KKH and NUS said the findings do not mean depression can be predicted from a single brain scan, nor that all boys and girls follow the same developmental trajectory.<\/p>\n
Instead, the study points to the need for more research on how risk may develop differently across sexes, they said.<\/p>\n
A*STAR IHDP senior scientist Chan Shi Yu, who is the study\u2019s lead author, said: \u201cWhat excites us about these findings is that they point us to a much earlier window than we typically look.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can better understand how the brain develops across childhood, and how that differs between boys and girls, we may be able to support children\u2019s mental health in a more timely and meaningful way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The team also found that incorporating sex-specific brain development patterns into models improved the accuracy of predicting depressive symptoms at age 13.<\/p>\n
A*STAR IHDP principal scientist Tan Ai Peng said the findings underscore the importance of moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to mental health research and prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause developmental pathways can differ between the sexes, these findings highlight why a one-size-fits-all approach may overlook important early signals in boys and girls,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Future research could further study how these sex-specific developmental patterns shape later health outcomes and improve earlier identification, prevention, and clinical strategies, she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 Boys and girls in Singapore may develop depressive symptoms differently, with patterns of brain development in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":["post-716669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}