Anhedonia (ANH), the reduced ability to anticipate or experience pleasure, is a major transdiagnostic contributor to disability, inferior quality of life, and a core characteristic of multiple severe psychopathologies. ANH emerges in adolescence prior to the onset of these disorders and is highly prevalent (up to 20%) in youth 13-15 years. However, ANH in adolescence is poorly understood and interventions remain few. A growing body of evidence suggests that stress exacerbates ANH and dysregulated acute stress response mechanisms may critically contribute to ANH. Yet, little is known about the role of stress neurobiology in the emergence, course, and severity of ANH in adolescence, a critical developmental period marked by significant pubertal changes and steep maturation of neural circuits implicated in the recalibration of the stress-response systems and mood regulation.

The STAARS Study characterizes how biological acute stress response mechanisms influence the severity and trajectory of Anhedonia, broadly defined as the inability to experience please and motivation. This study will track 192 adolescents ages 13-15 years experiencing a range of anhedonia over the course of 20 months and will measure multisystem stress response biotypes (MSRBs) linking physiological and neural responses to acute stress, as well as the characteristics of multisystem latent stress profiles that predict the severity and trajectory of anhedonia in adolescence.

Ultimately, this project will contribute a novel framework for understanding and modeling the complex multisystemic biological mechanisms governing stress responsivity during adolescence. Understanding the individual and interactive contributions of physiological and neural systems to anhedonia presents a critical opportunity to develop specific interventions that target malleable stress systems in adolescence.