Adolescence is a critical period of development involving changes in various regions of the brain often resulting in the presentation of many mental disorders. Anhedonia, or the loss of pleasure in response to rewards, is a major symptom of depression. Because of the potential relationship between reward processing and depression, it is possible that developmental changes in the reward system may relate to the severity of depressive symptoms across adolescence. While we did not identify a significant relationship between the reward system and depressive symptom development across adolescence, our analyses revealed that increases in average depressive severity was associated with the maturation of one of the brain’s key reward structures. This finding suggests that interactions between reward function and depression are more complicated than initially expected and factors like early life stress may impact both the reward system and depression development.

Food insecurity, or the inability to provide enough food for your household, is prevalent across the United States. People who experience food insecurity are more likely to experience many negative outcomes related to their physical health, mental health and school/work performance. In this study, we looked at how college students view food insecurity. We found that those with more exposure to food insecurity (through volunteering, donating or being knowledgeable about general information related to it) tended to hold more positive opinions. We also found that overall college students held positive opinions about food pantry usage by others. A surprising finding was that although they had a positive view on others using a food pantry, they were more hesitant to use it themselves. Knowing these proclivities, we can begin to develop potential interventions in college populations and empower students to obtain the resources they need.