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Multiple interactions between dopamine (DA), glutamate, and nitric oxide (NO) in mesolimbic and corticostriatal circuits suggest that NO may play a critical role in cocaine-induced behavioral and neural plasticity. Clinical and preclinical studies have revealed that females and adolescents display unique vulnerabilities to the behavioral and neurochemical effects of cocaine as a result of sex-dependent and ontogeny-dependent differences in dopaminergic systems. Thus, my research objectives were to investigate the contributions of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene, ontogeny, and gender on the rewarding and sensitizing effects of cocaine. I found that nNOS significantly influences the rewarding aspects of cocaine in adolescent mice and adult male mice (i.e., major deficits in several phases of cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) were detected in nNOS knockout (KO) adolescent mice and nNOS KO adult male mice). However, the contribution of nNOS was sex-dependent as CPP phases were normal in KO adult females. In contrast to CPP, I found a major ontogeny-dependent contribution of nNOS to the sensitizing effects of cocaine. Namely, while nNOS is essential for the development of behavioral sensitization in adult males, this type of behavioral plasticity develops independently of nNOS during adolescence. The contribution of nNOS was once again sex-dependent as behavioral sensitization was normal in adult KO females. Together, this line of investigation has revealed that the NO-signaling pathway has a) a sex-dependent role in the neuroplasticity underlying cocaine CPP and b) a sex-dependent and ontogeny-dependent influence on cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization. Stereological and western blot analysis revealed that a sensitizing regimen of cocaine resulted in an increase in nNOS and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in the dorsal striatum (dST) of adult, but not adolescent, wild-type (WT) male mice. In the absence of nNOS, dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) were severely reduced and cocaine caused a downregulation of dST TH suggesting that nitrergic levels modulate TH. Thus, the finding that nNOS is essential for the development of sensitization in adulthood, but not adolescence, together with the fact that cocaine upregulated nNOS and TH in the dST in adult, but not adolescent mice, strongly suggest that the nitrergic system underlies behavioral sensitization through modulation of the dopaminergic system in adulthood. These findings suggest different approaches in the clinical treatment of drug craving and drug-seeking behavior in adolescent and adult patients.

Obesity is common in adolescence and associated with medical complications. As maladaptive emotional processing is assumed to influence obesity, this research investigated emotional openness (EO), a general model of emotional processing, in normal-weight versus overweight adolescents, with consideration of gender differences, in order to determine whether a particular EO profile is characteristic of overweight adolescents. This research also explored the psychometric characteristics of the Dimensions of Openness to Emotions Questionnaire (DOE-20), a comprehensive multifactorial instrument that assesses emotional processing. The DOE-20 and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) short form were completed by 160 adolescents (mean age: 14.36 ± 0.61 years), 39 of which were overweight. A multivariate analysis of variance showed no difference with respect to overweight status, but better ability to recognize and regulate emotions in boys than girls. The original five-factor structure of the DOE-20 was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis; however, internal consistency was modest. As this research did not replicate the EO profile previously found in obese adults, we discuss the adequacy of the DOE-20 to evaluate EO in adolescents as well as the ability of the construct of EO to assess emotional processing in obesity. Further research should examine the links between EO, problematic eating behaviors, and obesity.

Overweight, a common health condition in adolescence, has been linked with difficulties in emotional processing. This study investigates associations between emotional processing, conceptualised through the model of Emotional Openness (EO), problematic eating behaviours, including Eating in the Absence of Hunger and disinhibited eating, and overweight in adolescents. Several self-report instruments were completed by 160 youngsters (mean age: 14.36 ± 0.61 years) from the community, including 39 overweight and obese adolescents (24.5%). In girls, bootstrap analyses supported a mediating effect of restrained eating on the relation between three EO dimensions and body mass index percentile, in particular the communication of emotions, the cognitive-conceptual representation of emotions, and the perception of bodily indicator of emotions. No mediating effect was found in boys. These results have important implications for psychological weight management interventions, as they underline the relevance of work on emotional processing in order to reduce problematic eating behaviours.

Background: School-based mental health promotion aims to strengthen mental health and reduce stress. Results on the effectiveness of such programs are heterogeneous. This study realized a school-based mental health promotion program (StresSOS) for all students and aimed to identify moderators (mental health status, gender, grade level) of pre- to post-changes in stress symptoms and knowledge. Methods: Participants were N = 510 adolescents (from 29 classes; 46.7% female) aged 12–18 years (M = 13.88, SD = 1.00; grade levels 7–10). They were without mental health problems (65.9%), at risk for mental health problems (21.6%), or with mental health problems (12.5%) and participated in a 90 min per week face-to-face training with 8 sessions in class at school. Demographic variables, mental health status, stress symptoms, and knowledge about stress and mental health were collected at baseline. Program acceptance, stress symptoms, and knowledge were collected post-intervention. Multilevel mixed effects models were conducted with the fixed effects time (within factor), mental health status, gender, and grade level (between factors). Random effects for students within classes were included. Results: In the pre-post comparison, mental health status moderated the changes on psychological stress symptoms (p < 0.05). In adolescents with mental health problems the largest reduction in stress symptoms was observed between pre- and post-assessment. Gender and grade level were less relevant. For all adolescents knowledge gains were revealed (p < 0.001). Program acceptance was moderated by mental health status and grade level (p < 0.01). Mentally healthy adolescents and within the group of adolescents at-risk or with mental health problems, especially younger students (7th/8th grade), rated program acceptance higher. Conclusion: Psychological stress symptoms decreased among adolescents with mental health problems and not among adolescents at risk for or without mental health problems. Mental health-related knowledge increased for all adolescents. The results add to knowledge on school-based mental health intervention research and practice. Its implications for different prevention strategies (universal, selective or a combination of both) are discussed.