Brain-Environment mechanisms of emotion regulation in youth: Predictive models and neurodevelopmental pathways

Emotion regulation is a critical transdiagnostic process that shapes vulnerability and resilience to psychopathology during adolescence, a developmental window characterized by rapid neurobiological change, social reorientation, and increasing exposure to environmental stressors. Emotion dysregulation in youth is closely linked to common mental health problems, including anxiety symptoms, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, anhedonia and depressive symptoms, irritability, and stress-related phenotypes. Despite growing interest, significant gaps remain in understanding how diverse environmental experiences (e.g., peer dynamics, family climate, adversity and trauma-related stress, sleep disruption, and digital media overexposure) interact with maturing brain systems to produce adaptive versus maladaptive emotion regulation profiles.

This Research Topic aims to integrate mechanistic and predictive perspectives on emotion regulation and processing in youth, spanning neurobiological pathways, computational modeling, and intervention-relevant biomarkers. We welcome studies that clarify: (i) which neurodevelopmental features (structural, functional, and network-level) confer risk or resilience to emotion dysregulation; (ii) how environmental exposures shape emotion regulation trajectories via specific neural pathways; and (iii) how multimodal, longitudinal, and real-world data can improve prediction of individual trajectories and clinical outcomes to inform prevention and intervention strategies.

A key emphasis is on integrating brain, behavior, cognition, and environmental context into interpretable models linked to meaningful endpoints (e.g., symptom dimensions, functional impairment, and coping strategies), while supporting robust, reproducible, and generalizable methodologies across cohorts, sites, and analytic pipelines.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Neurodevelopment of emotion regulation circuitry across adolescence (e.g., prefrontal-limbic systems, salience/DMN interactions, large-scale network dynamics).

2. Environmental influences and social context (peer environment, family factors, school climate, adversity/trauma-related stress, and media exposure) as moderators or mediators of emotion regulation development.

3. Sensitive periods and longitudinal trajectories, including changes in static and dynamic brain connectivity and emotion regulation skills.

4. Computational and machine learning approaches (e.g., normative modeling, multivariate prediction) to model individual trajectories of risk/resilience and forecast response to prevention or treatment.

5. Innovative measurement tools, including ecological momentary assessment, digital phenotyping, wearables and sleep metrics, and ecologically valid paradigms (task-based or naturalistic).

6. Translational research on neurobiological markers to guide early identification, psychosocial prevention/intervention, and noninvasive neuromodulation approaches.

This Research Topic will provide an interdisciplinary platform to synthesize developmental, environmental, computational, and translational perspectives, accelerating progress toward actionable, mechanistically grounded models of emotion regulation that support early identification and targeted intervention in youth.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: mental health, adolescence, neuroimaging, cognition, neuropsychiatry

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.