Adolescents’ ventral striatal reward neural activity moderates the association between lifetime trauma exposure and lower depression after 6 months

Background: Lifetime trauma exposure is associated with higher-severity depression and anhedonia. Neural reward regions develop in adolescence and influence depression and anhedonia. Reward regions may enhance the impact of trauma exposure on depression. This naturalistic, 6-month longitudinal study examined how individual differences in the function of reward regions impact associations between lifetime trauma exposure and the development of depression and anhedonia in adolescents. Methods: 82 participants aged 13–19 years varying in risk for depression and anhedonia reported lifetime trauma exposure, depression, and anhedonia and underwent a monetary reward fMRI task at baseline, then reported symptoms 6 months later. Neural reward activity to reward > neutral outcome (pFWE