Social Buffering During Aversive Conditioning

Adolescent Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title: Social Buffering During Aversive Conditioning

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the mechanisms through which parental buffering of stress physiology during aversive conditioning diminishes with pubertal development and whether this diminution of effectiveness extends to social buffering by peers (best friends) and/or other unfamiliar social partners (e.g., experimenters).

Clinical Trial Description

On visit one, the participant will 1) be seen by a nurse who will complete a pubertal assessment exam, 2) complete questionnaires, including ones on pubertal development, screening for MRI safety, and quality of relations with parents and friends. The participant will also have a chance to experience a simulated MRI in order to determine whether they will be comfortable in an actual MRI.

Within 2 weeks the participant will return to the University where they will undergo the following protocol. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of 4 conditions that differ by who is with them in the scanner room: Primary Parent, Close Friend, Experimenter, No Social Partner. (N=50 per condition, 25 male, 25 female).

Once at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, participants and the individual who will be with the participant in the scanning room will undergo an MRI safety screening (the repeat of what was completed over the phone). Girls will be shown to a changing room where the investigators will privately question them about any possibility of pregnancy. All participants will provide a urine sample for oxytocin assessment. Then participants will be shown into the scanning control room and one more safety check will be performed before they enter the scanner room and the scanner. If they are in one of the social buffering conditions, the social buffering partner will also enter the scanning room and will sit to the side of the scanner.

The scanning bed will then be moved into the barrel of the MRI machine. The participant will be wearing head phones to protect his/her hearing and to receive instructions from the control room. The participant will then complete two aversive (fear) conditioning paradigms, none using a social and one using a non-social stimulus. The investigators will use a 3T Siemens Prisma scanner with a standard 32-channel phased array head coil. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Adolescent Behavior
• Social Stress

• NCT number: NCT04312945
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Minnesota
• Contact: Bonny Donzella
• Phone: 6126244351
• Email: donzella@umn.edu
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 17, 2023
• Completion date: August 30, 2024