Divyangana Rakesh

This is figure 3, which shows neural mediators of the link between income inequality and mental health problems 18 months later.

A study in Nature Mental Health uses data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort study to evaluate the relationship between state-level income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health in young people. go.nature.com/4872wyh 🧪

Thanks Cassandra!!

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

Read coverage on our article on macroeconomic income inequality, the brain, and mental health in @theguardian.com:

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Macroeconomic income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health - Nature Mental Health Rakesh et al. used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort study to evaluate the relationship between state-level income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health in young people.

New paper in Nature Mental Health where we show that macroeconomic income inequality is associated with brain structure and function over and above individual-level SES and other state-level factors. These alterations may serve as pathways to mental health problems.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

New #article from Rakesh et al: Economic Inequality and Mental Health: Causality, Mechanisms, and Interventions
TL;DR: Economic inequality worsens mental health by increasing interpersonal social comparison and undermining the social capital of communities
www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fu...

Macroeconomic income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health - Nature Mental Health Rakesh et al. used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort study to evaluate the relationship between state-level income inequality, brain structure and function, and mental health in young people.

“Our findings suggest that structural income inequality is associated with neurobiological differences, even after accounting for absolute income and poverty. These brain differences, in turn, help explain links to adverse mental health outcomes.”

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

Living in an unequal society, regardless of individual wealth, can lead to structural changes in the brains of children.

#ScienceatKings #PopulationHealth

Study links greater inequality to structural changes in children’s brains Researchers say findings show inequality creates toxic environment and reducing it is ‘a public health imperative’

Important work on inequality changing children’s brain structure from @divyangana.bsky.social and colleagues.

Best ways to reduce inequality:
1. Fair pay agreements for every sector
2. Abolish two child benefit cap, for universal social security
3. Fair tax.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application ALT: a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application

📢 We are hiring! 📢
For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself.
Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...

Longitudinal associations between greenspace exposure, structural brain development, and mental health and academic performance during early adolescence Greenspace exposure is associated with positive mental health and academic outcomes. This preregistered longitudinal study examines whether the influence of greenspace exposure on structural brain dev...

We’ve paved over everything and then wonder why people are anxious, angry, and disconnected.

Asphalt addiction is real and ample green space is the bare minimum for a healthy city.

🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨
We used machine learning to examine how early life adversity ⚠️ is associated with the adolescent brain 🧠 in the ABCD Study across 7 adversity dimensions and 3 timepoints.
👉https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.659188v1

Check out our team's latest work on how early life adversity maps onto brain structure in youth, led by @kabro.bsky.social!

Details below ⬇️

PhD studentship available in developmental cognitive neuroscience, in Cambridge - please publicise.

Open to women candidates, as the student will be based at Newnham College.

Developmental pathways from childhood neurodevelopmental traits to early adolescent psychiatric dimensions: the role of environmental and lifestyle factors Objectives: Transdiagnostic dimensional approaches have advanced our understanding of psychiatric comorbidity and developmental continuity, but have rarely been applied to investigate links between ne...

*New preprint* on ND and co-occurring mental health problems from my lab, led by Chiara Caserini! Using longitudinal data from ABCD we asked: What drives poor mental health outcomes in children with high ND traits? Here's brief summary 🧠🌳🏡 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1.... 1/n

Why do some children from low-income families manage to thrive cognitively? Why do some children from low-income families manage to thrive cognitively? Our study sheds light on this question by identifying key factors that promote cognitive resilience.

"Although growing up in poverty carries many risks, some children defy the odds & demonstrate positive cognitive outcomes." This blog explores how to foster #Resilience in disadvantaged contexts.

Read the full blog here:

www.acamh.org/blog/why-do-...

Excited to share our new paper where we show on links between #greenspace exposure, brain development over time, and mental health and academic outcomes, now published in Biological Psychiatry. Led by Qingyang Li!
@kingsioppn.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Childhood Stress and Early Onset of Female Puberty May Raise Risk of Depression and Anxiety in Adolescence, Study Finds | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Being exposed to trauma during childhood has been associated with significantly increased risk for developing depression and anxiety later in life. Precisely how trauma translates into greater risk re...

Why are young girls, who begin puberty ahead of their same-age, same-sex peers, at an increased risk of depression and anxiety? Dr @divyangana.bsky.social outlines her research on this subject for the @bbrfoundation.bsky.social

#AcademicSky #PsychSky

bbrfoundation.org/content/chil...

Childhood Stress and Early Onset of Female Puberty May Raise Risk of Depression and Anxiety in Adolescence, Study Finds | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Being exposed to trauma during childhood has been associated with significantly increased risk for developing depression and anxiety later in life. Precisely how trauma translates into greater risk re...

An article on our recent work led by @niamhmacsweeney.bsky.social

bbrfoundation.org/content/chil...

<em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em> | ACAMH Pediatric Journal | Wiley Online Library Low socioeconomic status (SES) is negatively associated with children's cognitive and academic performance, leading to long-term educational and economic disparities. In particular, SES is a powerful....

Check out our 🚨 Annual Research Review 🚨 published in JCPP on the mediators and moderators of the link between SES and cognitive function, language ability, and academic achievement (a systematic review of 136 studies):

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at King's College London Recruiting now: Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board

🚨 HIRING 🚨 a Postdoctoral Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience @kingsioppn.bsky.social

My group's research aims to understand how social and physical environments impact brain and behaviour development.

Application window closes in three days!

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLX655/p...

Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at King's College London Discover an exciting academic career path as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

🚨 HIRING 🚨 a Postdoctoal Associate in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience @kingsioppn.bsky.social. My group's research aims to understand how social and physical environments impact brain and behaviour development.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLX655/p...

Accepting applications until the 15th of March!

<em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em> | ACAMH Pediatric Journal | Wiley Online Library Background Exposure to trauma in childhood is associated with an increased risk for internalising symptoms. Alterations in pubertal development has been proposed as a potential mechanism underpinnin...

🚨New paper out in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 🚨 In this pre-registered study, we examined the role of pubertal development in the association between trauma exposure and internalising symptoms in female youth using ABCD data:
acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Postdoctoral Researcher in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience - Flux Society

POSTDOC POSITION at @kingsioppn.bsky.social

The postdoc will work on an @ukri.org funded project on disadvantage, the pace of neurodevelopment, and cognitive outcomes using openly available infant and adolescent data. See the job ad here: fluxsociety.org/postdoctoral...

Please share and repost 🙏

Divyangana Rakesh Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychology

Congratulations to @divyangana.bsky.social, who has been named an @psychscience.bsky.social APS Rising Star, a designation presented to outstanding APS Members in the earlier stages of their research career whose innovative work has advanced the field!

Dr Rakesh's research:

Postdoctoral Researcher in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience - Flux Society

POSTDOC POSITION at @kingsioppn.bsky.social

The postdoc will work on an @ukri.org funded project on disadvantage, the pace of neurodevelopment, and cognitive outcomes using openly available infant and adolescent data. See the job ad here: fluxsociety.org/postdoctoral...

Please share and repost 🙏

Key predictors included developmental factors such as birthweight and duration of breastfeeding, neighborhood-level factors (e.g., enrollment in advanced placement courses), children's temperament and mental health, physical activity and involvement in extracurricular activities.

Our models were reliably able to predict resilience but were substantially more accurate for crystallized cognition than for fluid cognition.

JCPP Advances | ACAMH Child Development Journal | Wiley Online Library Machine learning based prediction of cognitive resilience among low income youth.

In our 🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨 "Beyond the income-achievement gap: The role of individual, family, and environmental factors in cognitive resilience among low-income youth", we used machine learning to characterise predictors of cognitive resilience.

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Dr Divyangana Rakesh receives MRC New Investigator Research Grant (NIRG) and the BBRF Young Investigator Grant These awards support her research into how low socioeconomic status (SES) impacts brain development and mental health.

How does low socioeconomic status (SES) impact brain development?

Dr @divyangana.bsky.social has been awarded grants by the @bbrfoundation.bsky.social and @ukri.org/MRC to investigate the biological mechanisms behind the impact on cognition and #MentalHealth #MedSky

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/dr-divy...

New paper, and it only took two years 🫠! In this systematic review, we aimed to identify the mediators and moderators in the association of SES with EF, language ability, and academic achievement. Now published as an Annual Research Review in JCPP!

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....