Niamh Anne MacSweeney

• McCann, Clare F.; Byrne, Michelle L.; Barendse, Marjolein E.A.; Shirtcliff, Elizabeth Anne; Herting, Megan M. & Bottenhorn, Katherine L. [Show all 18 contributors for this article] (2026). Expert consensus: Considerations for developmental scientists working with puberty data longitudinally in humans. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology (FIN). ISSN 0091-3022. 83. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2026.101284.
• Kraft, Brage; MacSweeney, Niamh Anne; Page, Christian Magnus; Lyle, Robert; Tsotsi, Stella & Ulset, Vidar Sandsaunet [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2026). The effect of prenatal maternal stress on adolescent internalizing symptoms and the genetic moderation of executive functioning and prefrontal cortex. Psychological Medicine. ISSN 0033-2917. 56. doi: 10.1017/S0033291726105431. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Prenatal maternal stress is a known risk factor for later emotional problems, yet not all exposed offspring develop psychopathology. Executive functioning and prefrontal cortex structure and activity may buffer these effects, but it remains unclear whether genetic predis positions in these domains moderate associations with adolescent internalizing symptoms. Methods: We examined 3,111 adolescents (1,881 females, 1,230 males). Prenatal stress was measured via a cumulative index across four domains. Internalizing symptoms were self reported at ages 14 and 16. Genetic predisposition for executive functioning was indexed using a polygenic score (PGS) derived from adult samples, applied here to estimate genetic predis position for executive functioning in adolescence. We also estimated a prefrontal cortex PGS based on cortical thickness and activation in six prefrontal regions, with a composite index derived from the first principal axis summarizing these measures. Results: Higher prenatal stress was significantly associated with more internalizing symptoms in adolescence. Female sex and maternal genetic risk for internalizing symptoms were also associated with higher symptom levels. Neither genetic disposition for executive functioning nor prefrontal cortex moderated this association overall. However, a weak interaction emerged at age 16, indicating that a genetic disposition for higher executive functioning was associated with greater internalizing symptoms under high stress exposure. Conclusions: Prenatal maternal stress predicted increased adolescent internalizing symptoms, with limited evidence for moderation by genetic predisposition for executive functioning. Higher genetic potential for executive functioning may confer increased sensitivity to early stress under certain developmental conditions.

• MacSweeney, Niamh; Dumoulin, Taleah Nanon; Aksnes, Eira Ranheim; Barth, Claudia; Crestol, Arielle & Heller, Carina [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2026). Adolescent Hormonal Contraceptive Use in the Context of Brain Development and Depression Risk: A Review and Considerations for Future Research. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. 6(5), p. 100758–100758. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2026.100758. Full text in Research Archive
• Beck, Dani; Carrick, Chloe; Aksnes, Eira Ranheim; MacSweeney, Niamh Anne; Westlye, Lars Tjelta & Fuhrmann, Delia [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Synchrony between brain age and internalising and externalising symptoms across adolescence. Communications Biology. doi: 10.1038/s42003-026-10722-x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Adolescence is a period of rapid neurobiological and behavioural change, yet how brain maturation deviations relate to psychopathology remains unclear. Here, we show, using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, that deviations in brain age are coupled with internalising and externalising symptom development across adolescence. Combining multimodal brain age prediction across four waves (ages ~8.3–17.5) with bivariate latent growth curve models of ten symptom waves, we found coordinated nonlinear development between brain maturation and symptoms: adolescents whose brains increasingly diverged from age-expected maturation showed increasing symptoms. Effects were most consistent for internalising symptoms in females ( r  = 0.15–0.23) and broader for externalising symptoms in both sexes ( r  = 0.15–0.32); intercept-level associations were weaker ( r  = 0.08–0.09). Sex differences were not robust after correction. Vulnerability to adolescent psychopathology appears more closely linked to changes in brain maturational tempo than to fixed differences in brain age.

• Fitzsimons, Kate; Li, Qingyang; Thomson, Phoebe; MacSweeney, Niamh Anne & Rakesh, Divyangana (2026). Socioeconomic disadvantage, pubertal development, and adolescent mental health and academic achievement: A longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology. ISSN 0954-5794. 38(3), p. 1345–1345. doi: 10.1017/s0954579426101187. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Low socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to pubertal development, mental health issues, and academic performance. However, the role of early pubertal development in the link between low SES and mental health and academic outcomes is unclear. Using longitudinal data from the ABCD Study (9–10 years at baseline, N = 9,848, 52.2% males) across four time points, we examined associations between household and neighborhood disadvantage, pubertal development, and mental health and academic achievement. Greater household and neighborhood disadvantage were associated with more advanced pubertal status at baseline in both males and females. Among females, higher pubertal status at baseline mediated the association between lower household income and neighborhood disadvantage with greater mental health problems and poorer school performance. Additionally, slower pubertal tempo attenuated the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and these outcomes in females. These findings underscore the importance of considering both household and neighborhood contexts in shaping adolescent development and highlight pubertal development as a potential pathway underlying socioeconomic disparities in mental health and academic achievement.

• Brieant, Alexis; Chaku, Natasha; Beck, Dani; MacSweeney, Niamh Anne; Rakesh, Divyangana & Tamnes, Christian Krog (2026). Timing and tempo of puberty and neurodevelopment following adversity: A registered report. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. ISSN 1878-9293. 79. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101738. Full text in Research Archive
• Ferschmann, Lia; Dobbelaar, Simone; Tamnes, Christian Krog; Tsotsi, Stella; Toenders, Yara Jo & MacSweeney, Niamh Anne (2026). Longitudinal Associations Between Pubertal Development and Youth Behavioral Adjustment in the Context of Parent and Peer Relationships. Social Development. ISSN 0961-205X. 35(3). doi: 10.1111/sode.70068. Full text in Research Archive
• Karl, Valerie; Bjørndal, Ludvig Daae; Aksnes, Eira Ranheim; Teulings, Irene Johanna Elisabeth; MacSweeney, Niamh Anne & Beck, Dani [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2026). Symptom-specific links between internalizing problems and functional connectivity in adolescents: a network analysis. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. ISSN 1018-8827. doi: 10.1007/s00787-026-02989-6. Full text in Research Archive
• Tamnes, Christian K.; Bekkhus, Mona; Eilertsen, Maja; Nes, Ragnhild Bang; Prydz, Monica Beer & Ystrom, Eivind [Show all 63 contributors for this article] (2025). The nature of the relation between mental well-being and ill-being. Nature Human Behaviour. 9(12), p. 2431–2440. doi: 10.1038/s41562-025-02319-x. Full text in Research Archive
• MacSweeney, Niamh; Beck, Dani; Whitmore, Lucy; Mills, Kathryn L.; Westlye, Lars Tjelta & Soest, Tilmann Martin von [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2025). Multimodal Brain Age Indicators of Internalizing Problems in Early Adolescence: A Longitudinal Investigation. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. ISSN 2451-9022. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.003. Full text in Research Archive
• MacSweeney, Niamh; Thomson, Phoebe; Soest, Tilmann Martin von; Tamnes, Christian Krog & Rakesh, Divyangana (2025). The role of pubertal development in the association between trauma and internalising symptoms in female youth. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. ISSN 0021-9630. p. 1–12. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.14139. Full text in Research Archive
• Karl, Valerie Christine; Beck, Dani; Eilertsen, Espen Moen; Morawetz, Carmen; Wiker, Thea & Aksnes, Eira Ranheim [Show all 15 contributors for this article] (2024). Associations between parental psychopathology and youth functional emotion regulation brain networks. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. ISSN 1878-9293. 70. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101476. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Parental mental health is associated with children’s emotion regulation (ER) and risk for psychopathology. The relationship between parental psychopathology and children’s functional ER networks and whether connectivity patterns mediate the relationship between parent and youth psychopathology remains unexplored. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 4202, mean age = 10.0) and a multilevel approach, we analyzed the relationship between self-reported parental psychopathology and their offsprings’ connectivity of four ER networks, as well as associations with self-reported youth psychopathology at a 3-year follow-up. Parental internalizing and total problems were associated with 1) higher connectivity between a subcortical-cortical integrative and ventrolateral prefrontal cortical (PFC) network, 2) lower connectivity between dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC networks involved in cognitive aspects of ER, and 3) lower connectivity within a subcortical ER network (β = −0.05–0.04). Parental externalizing and total problems were associated with lower connectivity within the integrative network (βext = −0.05; βtot = −0.04). Mediation analyses yielded direct effects of parental to youth psychopathology, but no mediation effect of ER network connectivity. Overall, our results show that ER network connectivity in youth is related to parental psychopathology, yet do not explain intergenerational transmission of psychopathology.

• Ferschmann, Lia; Grydeland, Håkon; MacSweeney, Niamh; Beck, Dani; Bos, Marieke G.N. & Norbom, Linn Bonaventure [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2024). The importance of timing of socioeconomic disadvantage throughout development for depressive symptoms and brain structure. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. ISSN 1878-9293. 69. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101449. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Prior studies have reported associations between socioeconomic disadvantage, brain structure and mental health outcomes, but the timing of these relations is not well understood. Using prospective longitudinal data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), this preregistered study examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage related differentially to depressive symptoms (n=3012–3530) and cortical and subcortical structures (n=460–733) in emerging adults, depending on the timing of exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage. Family income in early childhood and own income measured concurrently were both significantly related to depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. Similar results were observed for perceived financial strain. In contrast, only family income in early childhood was associated with brain structure in emerging adulthood, with positive associations with intracranial volume and total and regional cortical surface area. The findings suggest that both objective and subjective aspects of one’s financial standing throughout development relate to depressive symptoms in adulthood, but that specifically early life family income is related to brain structural features in emerging adulthood. This suggests that associations between socioeconomic disadvantage and brain structure originate early in neurodevelopment, highlighting the role of timing of socioeconomic disadvantage.

• Beck, Dani; Whitmore, Lucy; MacSweeney, Niamh; Brieant, Alexis; Karl, Valerie & Lange, Ann-Marie Glasø de [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2024). Dimensions of Early-Life Adversity Are Differentially Associated With Patterns of Delayed and Accelerated Brain Maturation. Biological Psychiatry. ISSN 0006-3223. 97(1), p. 64–72. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.07.019. Full text in Research Archive

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• MacSweeney, Niamh; Toenders, Yara J. & Tamnes, Christian K. (2025). Neuroimaging insights into adolescent depression risk and development. Nature Mental Health. 3(7), p. 779–779. doi: 10.1038/s44220-025-00453-z. Full text in Research Archive
• Beck, Dani; Whitmore, Lucy; MacSweeney, Niamh; Brieant, Alexis; Lange, Ann-Marie Glasø de & Westlye, Lars Tjelta [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2024). Dimensions of early life adversity are differentially associated with patterns of delayed and accelerated brain maturation. Full text in Research Archive
• Beck, Dani; Whitmore, Lucy; MacSweeney, Niamh; Brieant, Alexis; Lange, Ann-Marie G. de & Westlye, Lars Tjelta [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2024). Dimensions of early life adversity links to trimodal brain age in youth. Full text in Research Archive
• Beck, Dani; Ferschmann, Lia; MacSweeney, Niamh; Fridman, Linn Bonaventure; Wiker, Thea & Aksnes, Eira Ranheim [Show all 15 contributors for this article] (2023). Puberty differentially predicts brain maturation in males and females: A longitudinal ABCD Study. Full text in Research Archive
• Beck, Dani; Whitmore, Lucy; MacSweeney, Niamh; Westlye, Lars Tjelta; Mills, Kathryn L. & Tamnes, Christian Krog (2023). Associations between early life trauma and gray and white matter brain age during childhood and adolescence. Full text in Research Archive

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