Abstract
Considerable heterogeneity exists in the expression of complex human behaviors across the cognitive, personality and mental health domains. It is increasingly evident that individual variability in behavioral expression is substantially affected by sociodemographic factors that often interact with life experiences. Here, we formally address the urgent need to incorporate intersectional identities in neuroimaging studies of behavior, with a focus on research in mental health. We highlight how diverse sociodemographic factors influence the study of psychiatric conditions, focusing on how interactions between those factors might contribute to brain biology and illness expression, including prevalence, symptom burden, help seeking, treatment response and tolerance, and relapse and remission. We conclude with a discussion of the considerations and actionable items related to participant recruitment, data acquisition and data analysis to facilitate the inclusion and incorporation of diverse intersectional identities in neuroimaging.
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Acknowledgements
E.D. is supported by a Northwell Health Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM) Career Development Award and Educational Achievement Award, as well as the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Emerging Scientist Award. J.A.R. is supported by the Stanford University Knight–Hennessy Scholars Program, as well as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. L.Q.U. is supported by R21HD111805 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and U01DA050987 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. L.A.M.G. is supported by the Treliving Family Chair in Women’s Mental Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canadian Institutes for Health Research (PJT-173554), Cure for Alzheimer’s Fund and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2018-04301). E.G.J. is supported by the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative and R01AG063843. S.W.Y. is supported by R01DA053301 and R01DA050636. B.T.T.Y. is supported by the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUHSRO/2020/124/TMR/LOA), the Singapore National Medical Research Council (NMRC) LCG (OFLCG19May-0035), NMRC CTG-IIT (CTGIIT23jan-0001), NMRC STaR (STaR20nov-0003), NMRC OF-IRG (OFIRG24jan-0030), Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) Centre Grant (CG21APR1009), the Temasek Foundation (TF2223-IMH-01) and the US National Institutes of Health (R01MH120080 and R01MH133334). M.M.C. is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank, McGill University’s Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives (a Canada First Research Excellence Fund) and TRIDENT (supported by the New Frontiers in Research Fund). M.M.C. also receives research and salary support from the Fonds de recherche du Quebec—Santé. A.J.H. is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH123245 and R01MH120080). Any opinions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.
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Dhamala, E., Ricard, J.A., Uddin, L.Q. et al. Considering the interconnected nature of social identities in neuroimaging research. Nat Neurosci 28, 222–233 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01832-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01832-y
