# Testing the predictive power of neural connectivity: Suicidal ideation in youth exposed to maltreatment

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $179,558

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
In response to national calls from the Surgeon General, Congress, and NIMH, the proposed research will
investigate neural markers of suicidal ideation and behavior in one of the most vulnerable populations at risk
for suicide (i.e., youth with a history of child maltreatment). Child maltreatment is robustly related to youth
suicidal ideation and behavior; yet, child maltreatment alone is a poor predictor of future suicidal ideation and
behavior. Prediction of future suicidal ideation and behavior is critical and may be currently limited by a lack of
knowledge regarding neural underpinnings of known risk factors for suicide. Child maltreatment affects
functioning in brain regions implicated in emotion regulation. Further, emotion regulation may be a key process
underlying suicidal ideation and behavior. The proposed research will prospectively examine network wide
functional connectivity in brain networks implicated in emotion regulation as a predictor of suicidal ideation in
two independent samples of youth with and without histories of child maltreatment. This work will explore
frontolimbic (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—amygdala) connectivity during a widely-used emotion
regulation task and resting state scan among youth with and without suicidal ideation and child maltreatment
histories. Further, this work will examine neural connectivity as a prospective predictor of suicidal ideation.
Based on previous research, it is expected that youth with both child maltreatment and suicidal ideation
histories will demonstrate weak frontolimbic connectivity compared to youth with either child maltreatment or
suicidal ideation histories alone and control youth. Further, it is hypothesized that weak frontolimbic
connectivity will prospectively predict suicidal ideation across ~1-2 years across both samples of youth. Here
we have the remarkable ability to cross-validate our findings from one sample in an independent sample of
youth. Using a combination of experimental lab-based paradigms, functional network connectivity, and an
innovative longitudinal, cross-validation of findings, the proposed research offers a substantial advance within
the field that almost exclusively has relied on cross-sectional, single informant, retrospective reports of suicidal
ideation. Participants from two independent samples (total N = 340 youth ages 8-16; data collection supported
by 2 NIMH funded R01s) with a range of child maltreatment and suicidal ideation histories complete a baseline
assessment and fMRI scan, are followed prospectively for ~1-2 years, and complete an additional fMRI scan.
We will combine traditional connectivity analysis (graph theory) and a cutting-edge data-driven algorithm to
cross-validate neural network connectivity findings from baseline and follow-up (~1-2 years). Findings from the
current study may identify concrete markers of risk for suicidal ideation and behavior allowing us to significantly
improve prospective p...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9898475
- **Project number:** 5K01MH116325-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Adam Bryant Miller
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $179,558
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9898475

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9898475, Testing the predictive power of neural connectivity: Suicidal ideation in youth exposed to maltreatment (5K01MH116325-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9898475. Licensed CC0.

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