Beyond Cumulative Risk: A Dimensional Approach to Childhood Adversity

Associations between distinct dimensions of early life adversity and accelerated reproductive strategy among middle-aged women in China

BACKGROUND

Life history theory argues that unpredictable and harsh conditions such as early life adversity tends to produce a fast life history strategy, characterized by early sexual maturation and less parenting of offspring. It remains unclear whether all forms of early life adversity are associated with accelerated reproductive strategy, and most previous studies predominantly focused on single form of reproductive strategy indicators.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the associations between 2 distinct dimensions of early life adversity (ie, threat and deprivation) and reproductive strategies across global metrics.

STUDY DESIGN

We used data from 9674 middle-aged women of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The experiences of threat and deprivation were assessed using the Life History Survey Questionnaire in 2014. Reproductive strategy information was assessed via self-report from the follow-up of 2013, 2015 and 2018, including age at menarche, age at natural menopause, age at first birth, total number of children, and number of abortions. Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to assess the associations between distinct dimensions of early life adversity and multiple reproductive strategy indicators, adjusting for age, Hukou location, family socioeconomic status in adulthood and body mass index.

RESULTS

Of the 9674 women (mean [standard deviation] age at baseline, 55.89 [10.23] years), 4084 (42.20%) reported exposure to threat-related early life adversity and 7332 (75.79%) reported exposure to deprivation-related early life adversity. Early life adversity characterized by threat was associated with accelerated reproductive strategy. Compared with women who have no experiences of threat-related early life adversity, ≥3 threat-related early life adversity was associated with 3.7-month earlier age at menarche (β=-0.31, 95% confidence interval, -0.53 to -0.08; P=.007), 8.6-month earlier age at natural menopause (β=-0.72, 95% confidence interval, -1.29 to -0.15; P=.013), >1-year earlier age at first birth (β=-1.14, 95% confidence interval, -1.58 to -0.71; P<.0001), and an increased total number of children (β=0.25, 95% confidence interval, 0.10-0.41; P=.002). In contrast, experiences of deprivation were associated with delayed age at natural menopause (β=.50, 95% confidence interval, 0.06-0.94; P=.025) and increased number of abortions (β=.17, 95% confidence interval, 0.01-0.34, P=.037), in models adjusting for co-occurring threat exposures.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that early life adversity characterized by threat was associated with accelerated reproductive strategy, whereas deprivation was associated with slower reproduction strategy. Future research should clarify the biological pathways between different dimensions of early life adversity and reproductive strategies and further determine whether accelerated reproduction is an adaptive response to early life adversity in humans.

The prefrontal cortex, pathological anxiety, and anxiety disorders

Anxiety is experienced in response to threats that are distal or uncertain, involving changes in one's subjective state, autonomic responses, and behavior. Defensive and physiologic responses to threats that involve the amygdala and brainstem are conserved across species. While anxiety responses typically serve an adaptive purpose, when excessive, unregulated, and generalized, they can become maladaptive, leading to distress and avoidance of potentially threatening situations. In primates, anxiety can be regulated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which has expanded in evolution. This prefrontal expansion is thought to underlie primates' increased capacity to engage high-level regulatory strategies aimed at coping with and modifying the experience of anxiety. The specialized primate lateral, medial, and orbital PFC sectors are connected with association and limbic cortices, the latter of which are connected with the amygdala and brainstem autonomic structures that underlie emotional and physiological arousal. PFC pathways that interface with distinct inhibitory systems within the cortex, the amygdala, or the thalamus can regulate responses by modulating neuronal output. Within the PFC, pathways connecting cortical regions are poised to reduce noise and enhance signals for cognitive operations that regulate anxiety processing and autonomic drive. Specialized PFC pathways to the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus suggest a mechanism to allow passage of relevant signals from thalamus to cortex, and in the amygdala to modulate the output to autonomic structures. Disruption of specific nodes within the PFC that interface with inhibitory systems can affect the negative bias, failure to regulate autonomic arousal, and avoidance that characterize anxiety disorders.

Neurobiological correlates of the social and emotional impact of peer victimization: A review

Peer victimization is very common during late childhood and adolescence. Despite the relatively reduced number of studies, the neurobiological underpinnings of the negative impact of peer victimization experiences have received increasing attention in recent years. The present selective review summarizes the most recent available evidence and provides a general overview of the impact of peer victimization experiences on social processing and decision-making at the neurobiological level, highlighting the most pressing areas requiring further research. Three key cognitive areas show a clear negative impact of peer victimization and bullying experiences: social valuation processing, reward and reinforcement learning and self-regulation processes. Victims show enhanced activation in key regions of the limbic system including the amygdala, rostral and dorsal anterior cingulate cortices, suggestive of enhanced sensitivity to social stimuli. They also show enhanced recruitment of lateral prefrontal regions crucially involved in cognitive and emotional regulation processes, and abnormal reward-related striatal function. The presence of psychopathology is a complex factor, increased as a consequence of peer victimization, but that also constitutes vulnerability to such experiences.

Acute tryptophan depletion alters affective touch perception

RATIONALE

Affiliative tactile interactions help regulate physiological arousal and confer resilience to acute and chronic stress. C-tactile afferents (CTs) are a population of unmyelinated, low threshold mechanosensitive cutaneous nerve fibres which respond optimally to a low force stimulus, moving at between 1 and 10 cm/s. As CT firing frequencies correlate positively with subjective ratings of touch pleasantness, they are hypothesised to form the first stage of encoding affiliative tactile interactions. Serotonin is a key modulator of social responses with known effects on bonding.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of acutely lowering central serotonin levels on perceptions of CT-targeted affective touch.

METHODS

In a double blind, placebo-controlled design, the effect of acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) on 25 female participants' ratings of directly and vicariously experienced touch was investigated. Psychophysical techniques were used to deliver dynamic tactile stimuli; some velocities were targeted to optimally activate CTs (1-10 cm/s), whereas other, faster and slower strokes fell outside the CT optimal range. Discriminative tactile function, cold pain threshold and tolerance were also measured.

RESULTS

ATD significantly increased pleasantness ratings of both directly and vicariously experienced affective touch, increasing discrimination of the specific hedonic value of CT targeted velocities. While ATD had no effect on either tactile or cold pain thresholds, there was a trend for reduced tolerance to cold pain.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings are consistent with previous reports that depletion of central serotonin levels modulates neural and behavioural responsiveness to appetitive sensory signals.

Patterns of adverse childhood experiences among Chinese preschool parents and the intergenerational transmission of risk to offspring behavioural problems: moderating by coparenting quality

Background: Although intergenerational transmission of ACEs among parents and their offspring have been extensively studied in the West, few studies have been conducted in China on preschool children and their parents, and explore the protective fact for the intergeneration transmission. Objective: Using latent class analysis and moderation model, this study examined the associations between patterns of adverse childhood experiences of Chinese preschool parents and behavioural problems in their children and whether coparenting quality plays a protective role in this relationship. Method: A retrospective study was conducted on 3091 parent-child dyads from 11 kindergartens in the northern, central, and southern Anhui provinces in China. Online questionnaires were used to collect the data. Parents reported adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and provided information on their children's behavioural problems and perceived coparenting quality. Latent class analysis and a moderating model were used to examine the associations between patterns of adverse childhood experiences of Chinese preschool parents and behavioural problems in their children, and the moderating role of coparenting quality. Results: Four classes were identified: a high ACEs group, a violent victimisation group, a child abuse and physical neglect group, and a low ACEs group. Increasing levels of co-parenting quality were associated with reduced parent-reported child behaviour problems for all classes, and that potentially buffering effect was significantly stronger for the low ACEs class than for children whose parents in high ACEs class. Conclusions: Exposure to high ACEs increases the risk of developing behavioural problems in offspring, and coparenting quality may serve as a protective mechanism for intergenerational transmission. Future research should develop and implement interventions to support disadvantaged, at-risk parents and promote coparenting quality.

Family stress during the pandemic worsens the effect of adverse parenting on adolescent sleep quality

BACKGROUND

Adverse parenting is consistently associated with increased sleep problems among adolescents. Shelter-in-Place restrictions and the uncertainty linked to the Covid-19 pandemic have introduced new stressors on parents and families, adding to the risk for youth's sleep problems.

OBJECTIVE

Using multidimensional assessments of child maltreatment (CM; threat vs. deprivation), the present study examined whether parent-report and child-report of Covid-19 related stress potentiated the effect of CM on sleep problems among boys and girls.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study focused on a sample of 124 dyads of adolescents (M_age = 12.89, SD = 0.79; 52% female) and their primary caregivers (93% mothers) assessed before and during the pandemic (May to October 2020).

METHOD

Data were obtained from both youth and their parents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test all study hypotheses. Simple slopes and Johnson-Neyman plots were generated to probe significant interaction effects.

RESULTS

Deprivation, but not threat, directly predicted increased sleep problems among boys during the pandemic. Additionally, elevation in Covid-19 stress (both parent and child report) intensified the link between CM (threat and deprivation) and sleep problems among boys.

CONCLUSION

Our findings inform prevention and intervention efforts that aim to reduce sleep problems among boys during stressful contexts, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and depressive symptom trajectories in young adults: A longitudinal study of college students in China

BACKGROUND

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) tend to cluster together in daily life, and most studies focus on the level of depression at certain points, but the dynamic process of depression is often neglected. Thus, research is urgently needed to explore the relationship between ACEs pattern and trajectory of depressive symptom levels at multiple time points in order to provides early targeted interventions to those who are most at risk.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to explore patterns of ACEs, including types and timing, associated with depression trajectories in college students.

METHODS

A school-based health survey was used to collect data as part of a longitudinal study in two medical college in Anhui province, China. Questionnaires were issued to 3,662 participants aged 17-22 and recorded details of ACEs (types and timing) and depression. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify "patterns" of ACEs type and timing. Depressive symptom trajectories employed latent class growth analysis (LCGA). Multiple logistic regressions were employed to evaluate the relationships between ACEs patterns and depressive symptom trajectories.

RESULTS

We identified five ACEs patterns: "High neglect/emotional abuse/community violence," "High neglect/emotional abuse," "High neglect/family dysfunction," "High neglect," "Low ACEs." We traced three depression trajectories: "High depressive symptom" "Moderate depressive symptom," "Low depressive symptom." "High neglect/emotional abuse/community violence," "High neglect/emotional abuse" and "High neglect/family dysfunction" demonstrated a high risk for "High depressive symptom" and "Moderate depressive symptom." "High neglect" showed a high risk for "Moderate depressive symptom" but not for "High depressive symptom" (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings address the need for a comprehensive consideration of exposure to childhood adversity associated with the risk of depression in young adults through identifying more problematic ACEs patterns amongst exposed children.

Relationships among Early Adversity, Positive Human and Animal Interactions, and Mental Health in Young Adults

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with poor mental health. Emerging research demonstrates the protective role of positive childhood experiences, including a positive sense of self and relationships with both humans and animals, in mitigating the impacts of early life adversity on mental health outcomes. This study examined whether benevolent childhood experiences (BCEs) or relationships and interactions with pets during childhood moderated the link between ACEs and current mental health symptoms in a sample of young adults. Students (N = 214) recruited from a public university in the U.S. completed an online survey. The results showed that ACEs were significantly associated with worse mental health symptoms, including anxiety and depression. Neither emotional closeness to a childhood pet dog nor positive interactions with a childhood pet were significant moderators of the relationship between ACEs and mental health. In contrast, more BCEs were associated with better mental health, and their interaction with ACEs was significant such that adversity-exposed young adults with high BCEs reported fewer mental health symptoms than those with low BCEs. The results highlight the need for continued research on differential experiences that may be protective in the relationship between adversity exposures and mental health.

Different forms of childhood maltreatment have different impacts on the neural systems involved in the representation of reinforcement value

Background

The current study aimed to address two gaps in the literature on child maltreatment, reinforcement processing and psychopathology. First, the extent to which compromised reinforcement processing might be particularly associated with either neglect or abuse. Second, the extent to which maltreatment-related compromised reinforcement processing might be associated with particular symptom sets (depression, conduct problems, anxiety) or symptomatology more generally.

Methods

A sample of adolescents (N = 142) aged between 14 and 18 years with varying levels of prior maltreatment participated in this fMRI study. They were scanned while performing a passive avoidance learning task, where the participant learns to respond to stimuli that engender reward and avoid responding to stimuli that engender punishment. Maltreatment (abuse and neglect) levels were assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).

Results

We found that: (i) level of neglect, but not abuse, was negatively associated with differential BOLD responses to reward-punishment within the striatum and medial frontal cortex; and (ii) differential reward-punishment responses within these neglect-associated regions were particularly negatively associated with level of conduct problems.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate the adverse neurodevelopmental impact of childhood maltreatment, particularly neglect, on reinforcement processing. Moreover, they suggest a neurodevelopmental route by which neglect might increase the risk for conduct problems.

Timing, duration, and differential susceptibility to early life adversities and cardiovascular disease risk across the lifespan: Implications for future research

Early life adversities (ELA), include experiences such as child maltreatment, household dysfunction, bullying, exposure to crime, discrimination, bias, and victimization, and are recognized as social determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Strong evidence shows exposure to ELA directly impacts cardiometabolic risk in adulthood and emerging evidence suggests there may be continuity in ELA's prediction of cardiometabolic risk over the life course. Extant research has primarily relied on a cumulative risk framework to evaluate the relationship between ELA and CVD. In this framework, risk is considered a function of the number of risk factors or adversities that an individual was exposed to across developmental periods. The cumulative risk exposure approach treats developmental periods and types of risk as equivalent and interchangeable. Moreover, cumulative risk models do not lend themselves to investigating the chronicity of adverse exposures or consider individual variation in susceptibility, differential contexts, or adaptive resilience processes, which may modify the impact of ELA on CVD risk. To date, however, alternative models have received comparatively little consideration. Overall, this paper will highlight existing gaps and offer recommendations to address these gaps that would extend our knowledge of the relationship between ELA and CVD development. We focus specifically on the roles of: 1) susceptibility and resilience, 2) timing and developmental context; and 3) variation in risk exposure. We propose to expand current conceptual models to incorporate these factors to better guide research that examines ELA and CVD risk across the life course.

Socioeconomic disparities and neuroplasticity: Moving toward adaptation, intersectionality, and inclusion

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) has far-reaching linkages with children's cognitive and socioemotional development, academic achievement, health, and brain structure and function. Rather than focusing on understandings about the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality that have recently been reviewed elsewhere, the present article reviews several new directions in the field, beginning first with a consideration of the deficit versus adaptation framework. Although scientists largely agree that socioeconomic disparities in brain development are experience-dependent phenomena rooted in neuroplasticity, historically, such differences have been framed as deficits, which may benefit from intervention. However, emerging research suggests that some developmental differences among children experiencing adversity may alternatively be considered context-appropriate adaptations to the individual's environment. We next discuss how socioeconomic circumstances are inextricably intertwined with race, and consider how measurement of racism and discrimination must be part of a full understanding of the neuroscience of socioeconomic inequality. We argue that scientists must consciously recruit racially and socioeconomically diverse samples-and include measures of SES, race, and discrimination in analyses-to promote a more complete understanding of the neuroplasticity specifically, and psychological science more broadly. We discuss the extent to which researcher and editor positionality have contributed to these problems historically, and conclude by considering paths forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Contextualizing the Social and Educational Journeys of Adolescents within the Life Course

What happens during adolescence emerges from early in life and sets the stage for later in life. This linking function of adolescence within the life course is grounded in social, psychological, and biological development and is fundamental to the intergenerational transmission of societal inequalities. This article explores this life course phenomenon by focusing on how the social ups and downs of secondary school shape adolescents' educational trajectories, translating their backgrounds into their futures through the interplay of their personal agency with the constraints imposed by the stratified institutions they navigate. Illustrative examples include gender differences in risky behavior, racialized experiences of school discipline, immigrant youths' family relations, LGBTQ students' school safety, STEM education, adverse childhood experiences, and mindset interventions.

Primary and Secondary Variants of Psychopathic Traits in at-Risk Youth: Links with Maltreatment, Aggression, and Empathy

The current study examined whether two variants of psychopathic traits (PT) were identifiable in high-risk youth who had not yet been identified as antisocial, some of whom had documented histories of maltreatment (N = 167, M_age = 14.84), and then whether the variants differed in levels of aggression and empathy. High-PT youth with low anxiety and trauma (i.e., primary variant PT) and high anxiety and trauma (i.e., secondary variant PT) were differentiated. The secondary variant group was comprised largely of youth with documented histories of maltreatment. This group of youth also reported higher levels of proactive and reactive aggression than did the primary variant youth and low-PT youth. All youth reported similar levels of affective empathy and only small differences in cognitive empathy emerged: Primary variant youth reported lower cognitive empathy than low-PT youth. Findings support generalization of two variant groups of youth with psychopathic traits to diverse, high-risk samples not already identified as antisocial and have important implications for policy and practice.

Promoting brain health through physical activity among adults exposed to early life adversity: Potential mechanisms and theoretical framework

Adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, and poverty, profoundly alter neurobehavioral development in a manner that negatively impacts health across the lifespan. Adults who have been exposed to such adversities exhibit premature and more severe age-related declines in brain health. Unfortunately, it remains unclear whether the negative effects of early life adversity (ELA) on brain health can be remediated through intervention in adulthood. Physical activity may represent a low-cost behavioral approach to address the long-term consequences of ELA on brain health. However, there has been limited research examining the impact of physical activity on brain health among adults with a history of ELA. Accordingly, the purpose of this review is to (1) review the influence of ELA on brain health in adulthood and (2) highlight evidence for the role of neurotrophic factors, hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis regulation, inflammatory processes, and epigenetic modifications in mediating the effects of both ELA and physical activity on brain health outcomes in adulthood. We then propose a theoretical framework to guide future research in this area.

Change of pace: How developmental tempo varies to accommodate failed provision of early needs

The interplay of genes and environments (GxE) is a fundamental source of variation in behavioral and developmental outcomes. Although the role of developmental time (T) in the unfolding of such interactions has yet to be fully considered, GxE operates within a temporal frame of reference across multiple timescales and degrees of biological complexity. Here, we consider GxExT interactions to understand adversity-induced developmental acceleration or deceleration whereby environmental conditions hasten or hinder children's development. To date, developmental pace changes have been largely explained through a focus on the individual: for example, how adversity "wears down" aging biological systems or how adversity accelerates or decelerates maturation to optimize reproductive fitness. We broaden such theories by positing shifts in developmental pace in response to the parent-child dyad's capacity or incapacity for meeting children's early, physiological and safety needs. We describe empirical evidence and potential neurobiological mechanisms supporting this new conceptualization of developmental acceleration and deceleration. We conclude with suggestions for future research on the developmental consequences of early adverse exposures.

Stressful Life Events and Their Unique Associations with Psychosocial Outcomes: a Gendered Analysis Among High School Adolescents

INTRODUCTION

There is substantial evidence linking stressful life events (SLEs) in childhood to poor mental health later in life, but few studies explore how various types of SLEs differentially impact mental health. The purpose of this study is to assess associations between SLEs and psychosocial outcomes in a diverse adolescent population in the USA and to examine whether and how these relationships are gendered.

METHODS

The sample comprises 181 high school students ages 13-21 years in Harrisonburg, Virginia. This study analyzed associations between 12 SLEs and eight psychosocial outcomes using ordinary least-squares and logistic regressions. Relationships were estimated for the full sample and for males and females, separately.

RESULTS

For boys, having ever been forced to leave one's family was associated with declines in resilience (B = - 4.646; 95% CI (- 8.79, - 0.50)) and increases in externalizing symptoms (B = 0.392; 95% CI (0.15, 0.63)). Furthermore, boys who experienced a drastic change in their family reported lower levels of school belonging (B = - 9.272; 95% CI (- 17.45, - 1.09)). For girls, having ever been forced to leave one's family was associated with decreases in depressive (B = - 0.961; 95% CI (- 1.88, - 0.05)) and anxiety symptomology (B = - 0.868; 95% CI (- 1.68, - 0.06)). Overall, students who experienced a life-threatening emergency exhibited greater depressive (B = 0.445; 95% CI (0.15, 0.74)) and anxiety symptoms (B = 0.287; 95% CI (0.05, 0.52)), and depressive symptomology was also associated with having ever been physically hurt by someone (B = 0.224; 95% CI (0.01, 0.44)).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings provide insights into how exposures might engender different mental health processes and outcomes, and how these processes may manifest differently across gender.

Exposure to parent assault on a sibling as a childhood adversity

BACKGROUND

Children's exposure to parental violence against another parent has been widely studied as an adverse childhood experience and source of childhood trauma. Exposure to parental violence against a sibling could be equally as traumatizing, but the literature on this exposure is sparse, by comparison. We examined the frequency of exposure to parental assault on a sibling (EPAS) and its demographic distributions. We also investigated the links between EPAS and symptoms of distress.

METHOD

From three combined surveys of the National Survey on Children's Exposure to Violence, based on telephone interviews with parents, and in the case of those 10-17 years old, adolescents, we examined children living with a juvenile sibling (N = 7, 029; 49% female).

RESULTS

Lifetime EPAS was 3.7%, and sibling assault was more common by fathers (70%) than by mothers (30%). Exposure was greatest for boys and adolescents, highest for those whose parents had some college education, and for those living with other non-parental adults, single parents, and stepfamilies. Rates did not differ by ethnicity. Most exposed youth felt afraid (83%), and fear was greater when witnessing fathers than mothers assaulting a sibling. Controlling for child maltreatment and exposure to interparental violence, those exposed to EPAS showed higher current levels of mental distress (anger, depression, and anxiety; F (10, 6146) = 140.44, p = .001; R² = 0.19).

CONCLUSIONS

Clinical work and parent education programs should address the occurrence of EPAS and the adverse association between EPAS and mental health to reduce its potential negative impact.

Clusters of adverse childhood experiences and unmet need for care coordination

BACKGROUND

The lack of consensus on how to measure ACEs limits our estimation of their impact on health outcomes and understanding of which ACE clusters drive unmet care coordination (CC) needs.

OBJECTIVES

1) Identify latent classes of ACEs among a representative group of U.S. children; 2) Examine the association between these classes and unmet needs for CC.

PARTICIPANT AND SETTING

Using the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health, we sampled children ages 0-17 the who had seen >1 healthcare provider within 12 months (n = 38,758).

METHODS

We conducted latent class analyses and weighted logistic regression analyses to examine associations between latent classes and unmet need for CC.

RESULTS

We identified seven distinct classes: household poverty and parental divorce, household poverty and parental death, household poverty only, household substance abuse and witnessing violence, multiple ACEs, household poverty and child discrimination, and household poverty and household mental illness. Children in the following classes had the greatest odds of unmet need for CC: household poverty only (AOR 2.0; 95% CI, 1.42-2.84), household poverty and household mental illness (AOR 1.67; 95% CI, 1.15-2.44), multiple ACEs (AOR 2.31; 95% CI, 1.53-3.50), and household poverty and child discrimination (AOR 3.55; 95% CI, 1.71-7.37).

CONCLUSIONS

Children who experienced specific combinations of ACEs, have an increased risk of unmet need for CC, with those experiencing both poverty and discrimination having the highest odds of unmet need for CC. Discrimination widens the gap of unmet CC need for poor children.

Pubertal timing and functional neurodevelopmental alterations independently mediate the effect of family conflict on adolescent psychopathology

This study tested the hypothesis that early life adversity (ELA) heightens psychopathology risk by concurrently altering pubertal and neurodevelopmental timing, and associated gene transcription signatures. Analyses focused on threat- (family conflict/neighbourhood crime) and deprivation-related ELAs (parental inattentiveness/unmet material needs), using longitudinal data from 1514 biologically unrelated youths in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Typical developmental changes in white matter microstructure corresponded to widespread BOLD signal variability (BOLDsv) increases (linked to cell communication and biosynthesis genes) and region-specific task-related BOLDsv increases/decreases (linked to signal transduction, immune and external environmental response genes). Increasing resting-state (RS), but decreasing task-related BOLDsv predicted normative functional network segregation. Family conflict was the strongest concurrent and prospective contributor to psychopathology, while material deprivation constituted an additive risk factor. ELA-linked psychopathology was predicted by higher Time 1 threat-evoked BOLDSV (associated with axonal development, myelination, cell differentiation and signal transduction genes), reduced Time 2 RS BOLDsv (associated with cell metabolism and attention genes) and greater Time 1 to Time 2 control/attention network segregation. Earlier pubertal timing and neurodevelopmental alterations independently mediated ELA effects on psychopathology. Our results underscore the differential roles of the immediate and wider external environment(s) in concurrent and longer-term ELA consequences.

Are all threats equal? Associations of childhood exposure to physical attack versus threatened violence with preadolescent brain structure

Background

Neurodevelopmental studies of childhood adversity often define threatening experiences as those involving harm or the threat of harm. Whether effects differ between experiences involving harm (“physical attack”) versus the threat of harm alone (“threatened violence”) remains underexplored. We hypothesized that while both types of experiences would be associated with smaller preadolescent global and corticolimbic brain volumes, associations with physical attack would be greater.

Methods

Generation R Study researchers (the Netherlands) acquired T1-weighted scans from 2905 preadolescent children, computed brain volumes using FreeSurfer, and asked mothers whether their children ever experienced physical attack (n = 202) or threatened violence (n = 335). Using standardized global (cortical, subcortical, white matter) and corticolimbic (amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex) volumes, we fit confounder-adjusted models.

Results

Physical attack was associated with smaller global volumes (β_cortical=−0.14; 95% CI: −0.26, −0.02); β_{white matter}= −0.16; 95% CI: − 0.28, − 0.03) and possibly some corticolimbic volumes, e.g., β_{amygdala/ICV-adjusted}= −0.10 (95% CI: −0.21, 0.01). We found no evidence of associations between threatened violence and smaller volumes in any outcome; instead, such estimates were small, highly uncertain, and positive in direction.

Conclusions

Experiences of physical attack and threatened violence may have quantitively different neurodevelopmental effects. Thus, differences between types of threatening experiences may be neurodevelopmentally salient.

It is Not (Always) the Mismatch That Beats You-On the Relationship Between Interaction of Early and Recent Life Stress and Emotion Regulation, an fMRI Study

Stress may impact the ability to effectively regulate emotions. To study the impact of stressful experiences in early and recent life on emotion regulation, we examined the relationship between early life stress, recent stress, and brain activation during cognitive reappraisal. We investigated two regulation goals: the decrease and increase of emotional response to both negative and positive stimuli. Furthermore, two models of stress consequences were examined: the cumulative and match/mismatch models. A total of 83 participants (M_age = 21.66) took part in the study. There was an interaction between cumulative stress and stimuli valence in the cuneus, superior lateral occipital cortex, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus extending to superior temporal gyrus, and precentral gyrus extending to supplementary motor area. Interaction between mismatched stress index and stimuli valence was found in the left hippocampus, left insula extending to the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala, and in a cluster including the anterior cingulate cortex, superior frontal gyrus, and frontal pole. Furthermore, there were differences between the effects of cumulative and mismatched stress indices on brain activation during reappraisal of positive but not negative stimuli. Results indicate that cumulative stress and match/mismatch approaches are both useful for explaining brain activation during reappraisal. This finding is important for our understanding of the multifaceted impact of stress on emotion regulation.

Early Adversity and Development: Parsing Heterogeneity and Identifying Pathways of Risk and Resilience

Adversity early in life is common and is a major risk factor for the onset of psychopathology. Delineating the neurodevelopmental pathways by which early adversity affects mental health is critical for early risk identification and targeted treatment approaches. A rapidly growing cross-species literature has facilitated advances in identifying the mechanisms linking adversity with psychopathology, specific dimensions of adversity and timing-related factors that differentially relate to outcomes, and protective factors that buffer against the effects of adversity. Yet, vast complexity and heterogeneity in early environments and neurodevelopmental trajectories contribute to the challenges of understanding risk and resilience in the context of early adversity. In this overview, the author highlights progress in four major areas-mechanisms, heterogeneity, developmental timing, and protective factors; synthesizes key challenges; and provides recommendations for future research that can facilitate progress in the field. Translation across species and ongoing refinement of conceptual models have strong potential to inform prevention and intervention strategies that can reduce the immense burden of psychopathology associated with early adversity.

Neural impact of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in traumatically injured adults

Nearly 14 percent of Americans live in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood. Lower individual socioeconomic position (iSEP) has been linked to increased exposure to trauma and stress, as well as to alterations in brain structure and function; however, the neural effects of neighborhood SEP (nSEP) factors, such as neighborhood disadvantage, are unclear. Using a multi-modal approach with participants who recently experienced a traumatic injury (N = 185), we investigated the impact of neighborhood disadvantage, acute post-traumatic stress symptoms, and iSEP on brain structure and functional connectivity at rest. After controlling for iSEP, demographic variables, and acute PTSD symptoms, nSEP was associated with decreased volume and alterations of resting-state functional connectivity in structures implicated in affective processing, including the insula, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. Even in individuals who have recently experienced a traumatic injury, and after accounting for iSEP, the impact of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is apparent, particularly in brain regions critical for experiencing and regulating emotion. These results should inform future research investigating how various levels of socioeconomic circumstances may impact recovery after a traumatic injury as well as policies and community-developed interventions aimed at reducing the impact of socioeconomic stressors.

The Value of Dimensional Models of Early Experience: Thinking Clearly About Concepts and Categories

We review the three prevailing approaches-specificity, cumulative risk, and dimensional models-to conceptualizing the developmental consequences of early-life adversity and address fundamental problems with the characterization of these frameworks in a recent Perspectives on Psychological Science piece by Smith and Pollak. We respond to concerns raised by Smith and Pollak about dimensional models of early experience and highlight the value of these models for studying the developmental consequences of early-life adversity. Basic dimensions of adversity proposed in existing models include threat/harshness, deprivation, and unpredictability. These models identify core dimensions of early experience that cut across the categorical exposures that have been the focus of specificity and cumulative risk approaches (e.g., abuse, institutional rearing, chronic poverty); delineate aspects of early experience that are likely to influence brain and behavioral development; afford hypotheses about adaptive and maladaptive responses to different dimensions of adversity; and articulate specific mechanisms through which these dimensions exert their influences, conceptualizing experience-driven plasticity within an evolutionary-developmental framework. In doing so, dimensional models advance specific falsifiable hypotheses, grounded in neurodevelopmental and evolutionary principles, that are supported by accumulating evidence and provide fertile ground for empirical studies on early-life adversity.

Dissociable impact of childhood trauma and deployment trauma on affective modulation of startle

Trauma disorders are often associated with alterations in aversive anticipation and disruptions in emotion/fear circuits. Heightened or blunted anticipatory responding to negative cues in adulthood may be due to differential trauma exposure during development, and previous trauma exposure in childhood may also modify effects of subsequent trauma in adulthood. The aim of the current investigation was to examine the contributions of childhood trauma on affective modulation of startle before and after trauma exposure in adulthood (a combat deployment). Adult male participants from the Marine Resilience Study with (n = 1145) and without (n = 1312) a history of reported childhood trauma completed an affective modulation of startle task to assess aversive anticipation. Affective startle response was operationalized by electromyography (EMG) recording of the orbicularis oculi muscle in response to acoustic stimuli when anticipating positive and negative affective images. Startle responses to affective images were also assessed. Testing occurred over three time-points; before going on a 7 month combat deployment and 3 and 6 months after returning from deployment. Startle response when anticipating negative images was greater compared to pleasant images across all three test periods. Across all 3 time points, childhood trauma was consistently associated with significantly blunted startle when anticipating negative images, suggesting reliable effects of childhood trauma on aversive anticipation. Conversely, deployment trauma was associated with increased startle reactivity post-deployment compared to pre-deployment, which was independent of childhood trauma and image valence. These results support the hypothesis that trauma exposure during development vs. adulthood may have dissociable effects on aversive anticipation and arousal mechanisms. Further study in women and across more refined age groups is needed to test generalizability and identify potential developmental windows for these differential effects.

What was learned from studying the effects of early institutional deprivation

The effect of experiences in infancy on human development is a central question in developmental science. Children raised in orphanage-like institutions for their first year or so of life and then adopted into well-resourced and supportive families provide a lens on the long-term effects of early deprivation and the capacity of children to recover from this type of early adversity. While it is challenging to identify cause-and-effect relations in the study of previously institutionalized individuals, finding results that are consistent with animal experimental studies and the one randomized study of removal from institutional care support the conclusion that many of the outcomes for these children were induced by early institutional deprivation. This review examines the behavioral and neural evidence for altered executive function, declarative memory, affective disorders, reward processing, reactivity to threat, risk-taking and sensation-seeking. We then provide a brief overview of the neurobiological mechanisms that may transduce early institutional experiences into effects on brain and behavior. In addition, we discuss implications for policy and practice.

Behavioral mediators of stress-related mood symptoms in adolescence & young adulthood

BACKGROUND

Stress is a risk factor for unipolar and bipolar mood disorders, but the mechanisms linking stress to specific symptoms remain elusive. Behavioral responses to stress, such as impulsivity and social withdrawal, may mediate the associations between stress and particular mood symptoms.

METHODS

This study evaluated behavioral mediators of the relationship between self-reported intensity of daily stress and mood symptoms over up to eight weeks of daily diary surveys. The sample included individuals with unipolar or bipolar disorders, or with no psychiatric history (n = 113, ages 15-25).

RESULTS

Results showed that higher daily stress was related to higher severity of mania, and this pathway was mediated by impulsive behaviors. Higher stress also predicted higher severity of anhedonic depression, and social withdrawal mediated this relationship. A k-means clustering analysis revealed six subgroups with divergent profiles of stress-behavior-symptom pathways.

LIMITATIONS

Given the observational study design, analyses cannot determine causal relationships amongst these variables. Further work is needed to determine how relationships between these variables may vary based on stressor type, at different timescales, and within different populations.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings support a theoretical model in which impulsivity and social withdrawal act as behavioral mediators of the relationship between stress and mood symptoms. Additionally, distinct patterns of reactivity distinguished subgroups of people vulnerable to particular types of mood symptoms. These results provide novel information about how stress-reactive behaviors relate to specific mood symptoms, which may have clinical relevance as targets of intervention.

The Value of Dimensional Models of Early Experience: Thinking Clearly About Concepts and Categories

We review the three prevailing approaches-specificity, cumulative risk, and dimensional models-to conceptualizing the developmental consequences of early-life adversity and address fundamental problems with the characterization of these frameworks in a recent Perspectives on Psychological Science piece by Smith and Pollak. We respond to concerns raised by Smith and Pollak about dimensional models of early experience and highlight the value of these models for studying the developmental consequences of early-life adversity. Basic dimensions of adversity proposed in existing models include threat/harshness, deprivation, and unpredictability. These models identify core dimensions of early experience that cut across the categorical exposures that have been the focus of specificity and cumulative risk approaches (e.g., abuse, institutional rearing, chronic poverty); delineate aspects of early experience that are likely to influence brain and behavioral development; afford hypotheses about adaptive and maladaptive responses to different dimensions of adversity; and articulate specific mechanisms through which these dimensions exert their influences, conceptualizing experience-driven plasticity within an evolutionary-developmental framework. In doing so, dimensional models advance specific falsifiable hypotheses, grounded in neurodevelopmental and evolutionary principles, that are supported by accumulating evidence and provide fertile ground for empirical studies on early-life adversity.

Associations of adverse childhood experiences with adolescent total sleep time, social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with sleep problems in adulthood, but less research has focused on ACEs and sleep during adolescence. The goal of the present study was to explore associations between ACEs reported at ages 5 and 9 years, and sleep (ie, total sleep time (TST), social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms) at age 15.

METHODS

Participants comprised 817 families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative sample of children born to unwed parents. Number of ACEs was constructed from primary-caregiver reports at ages 5 and 9, and sleep measures (ie, TST, social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms) were derived from adolescent-reported sleep behaviors at age 15.

RESULTS

Adjusting for sex and race/ethnicity, ACEs at age 9 were associated with longer weekend TST (B = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.28), more social jetlag (B = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.07, 0.27), and higher odds of trouble falling asleep ≥3 times per week (Odds Ratio = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.53). In females only, ACEs were associated with greater school night TST (B = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.23). Results were similar after further adjustment for symptoms of anxiety and depression. Associations among ACEs, social jetlag, and insomnia symptoms appeared strongest among Non-Hispanic Black adolescents.

CONCLUSION

ACEs appear to be related to multiple aspects of sleep in adolescence. Additional research is needed to confirm these associations and examine the extent to which sleep disturbances associated with ACEs account for later health outcomes.

Puerto Ricans and Mexican immigrants differ in their psychological responses to patterns of lifetime adversity

BACKGROUND

Puerto Ricans and Mexican immigrants are often exposed to multiple types of adversity across their lifetime (e.g., maltreatment, household dysfunction, discrimination) and this exposure can increase the risk for adult mental health problems.

PURPOSE

The objective of this study was to (a) identify subgroups of individuals exposed to unique combinations of childhood adversity and lifetime discrimination among Puerto Ricans and Mexican immigrants, and (b) compare the prevalence of mental health problems across different risk profiles.

METHOD

We used existing data from the HCHS/SOL Sociocultural Ancillary Study. Participants included Puerto Rican (N = 402) and Mexican adults (N = 1351) born outside but living in the continental U.S.

FINDINGS

Through latent profile analysis, we selected a three-profile solution for Puerto Ricans: (a) Low Exposure (low on all adversity items; 58% of sample), (b) Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Only (high on ACEs items, average or lower than average on discrimination items; 32%), and (c) Dual Exposure (high on all adversity items; 10%). For Mexicans, we selected a four-profile solution: (a) Low Exposure (52%), (b) ACEs Only (24%), (c) Maltreatment and Discrimination (15%), and (d) Dual Exposure (9%). For Mexicans, we found that the Dual Exposure and the Maltreatment and Discrimination profiles had the highest levels of mental health problems. For Puerto Ricans, the Dual Exposure and ACEs Only profiles had the highest levels of mental health problems, suggesting that Puerto Ricans may be more vulnerable to the effects of childhood adversities as compared to Mexican immigrants. Results from our study indicate that different patterns of adversity exposure are linked to different levels of mental health outcomes, and therefore, may require different intervention dosage. Understanding which groups of individuals are at highest and lowest risk for mental health problems is critical for developing effective, tailored interventions to prevent the negative effects of childhood adversity and discrimination for Latinxs.

Associations among negative life events, changes in cortico-limbic connectivity, and psychopathology in the ABCD Study

Adversity exposure is a risk factor for psychopathology, which most frequently onsets during adolescence, and prior research has demonstrated that alterations in cortico-limbic connectivity may account in part for this association. In a sample of youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (N = 4006), we tested a longitudinal structural equation model to examine the indirect effect of adversity exposure (negative life events) on later psychopathology via changes in cortico-limbic resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). We also examined the potential protective effects of parental acceptance. Generally, cortico-limbic connectivity became more strongly negative between baseline and year 2 follow-up, suggesting that stronger negative correlations within these cortico-limbic networks may reflect a more mature phenotype. Exposure to a greater number of negative life events was associated with stronger negative cortico-limbic rsFC which, in turn, was associated with lower internalizing (but not externalizing) symptoms. The indirect effect of negative life events on internalizing symptoms via cortico-limbic rsFC was significant. Parental acceptance did not moderate the association between negative life events and rsFC. Our findings highlight how stressful childhood experiences may accelerate neurobiological maturation in specific cortico-limbic connections, potentially reflecting an adaptive process that protects against internalizing problems in the context of adversity.

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Childhood adversity shapes cortico-limbic connectivity and mental health.

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In the ABCD Study, cortico-limbic functional connectivity changed over time.

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These changes explain the association between adversity and internalizing symptoms.

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Adversity exposure may accelerate corticolimbic development.

Mechanisms of neuroplasticity linking early adversity to depression: developmental considerations

Early exposure to psychosocial adversity is among the most potent predictors of depression. Because depression commonly emerges prior to adulthood, we must consider the fundamental principles of developmental neuroscience when examining how experiences of childhood adversity, including abuse and neglect, can lead to depression. Considering that both the environment and the brain are highly dynamic across the period spanning gestation through adolescence, the purpose of this review is to discuss and integrate stress-based models of depression that center developmental processes. We offer a general framework for understanding how psychosocial adversity in early life disrupts or calibrates the biobehavioral systems implicated in depression. Specifically, we propose that the sources and nature of the environmental input shaping the brain, and the mechanisms of neuroplasticity involved, change across development. We contend that the effects of adversity largely depend on the developmental stage of the organism. First, we summarize leading neurobiological models that focus on the effects of adversity on risk for mental disorders, including depression. In particular, we highlight models of allostatic load, acceleration maturation, dimensions of adversity, and sensitive or critical periods. Second, we expound on and review evidence for the formulation that distinct mechanisms of neuroplasticity are implicated depending on the timing of adverse experiences, and that inherent within certain windows of development are constraints on the sources and nature of these experiences. Finally, we consider other important facets of adverse experiences (e.g., environmental unpredictability, perceptions of one's experiences) before discussing promising research directions for the future of the field.

Psychological Difficulties Mediate and Self-Efficacy Moderates the Relationship Between Family Cumulative Risk and Hope Among Chinese Children From Low-Income Families

This longitudinal study investigated the role of psychological difficulties and self-efficacy in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope among children from low-income families. The participants were 392 Chinese children from low-income families; the study extended for 2 years, and participants completed data that were collected with the following questionnaires: the Family Cumulative Risk Index, Children's Hope Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Difficulties subscale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. The results demonstrated that psychological difficulties played a mediating role in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope; specifically, family cumulative risk predicted hope of children via psychological difficulties. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between psychological difficulties and hope. This moderation supported "a drop in the ocean effect"; the protective effect of high self-efficacy worked only when psychological difficulties were at low levels. When psychological difficulties were at high levels, the buffering effect of self-efficacy on family cumulative risk was gradually weakened and eventually lost.

Examination of the association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and brain structure in young adults: a machine learning analysis

Exposure to maltreatment during childhood is associated with structural changes throughout the brain. However, the structural differences that are most strongly associated with maltreatment remain unclear given the limited number of whole-brain studies. The present study used machine learning to identify if and how brain structure distinguished young adults with and without a history of maltreatment. Young adults (ages 18-21, n = 384) completed an assessment of childhood trauma exposure and a structural MRI as part of the IMAGEN study. Elastic net regularized regression was used to identify the structural features that identified those with a history of maltreatment. A generalizable model that included 7 cortical thicknesses, 15 surface areas, and 5 subcortical volumes was identified (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.71, p < 0.001). Those with a maltreatment history had reduced surface areas and cortical thicknesses primarily in fronto-temporal regions. This group also had larger cortical thicknesses in occipital regions and surface areas in frontal regions. The results suggest childhood maltreatment is associated with multiple measures of structure throughout the brain. The use of a large sample without exposure to adulthood trauma provides further evidence for the unique contribution of childhood trauma to brain structure. The identified regions overlapped with regions associated with psychopathology in adults with maltreatment histories, which offers insights as to how these disorders manifest.

Differences in late adolescent psychopathology among youth with histories of co-occurring abuse and neglect experiences

BACKGROUND

Knowledge about the impacts of child abuse and neglect (CAN) experiences on late adolescent psychopathology has been limited by a failure to consider the frequent co-occurrence of CAN types and potential unique impacts of specific combinations.

OBJECTIVE

Using person-centered analyses, we aimed to identify unobserved groups of youth with similar patterns of lifetime CAN experiences before age 16 and differences in psychopathology symptom counts between groups two years later.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Participants were 919 adolescent-caregiver dyads (56% female; 56% Black, 7% Latina/o, 13% mixed/other).

METHODS

Prospective, multi-informant data, including child protective services records and caregiver and youth reports were collected, and youth completed a diagnostic interview at age 18.

RESULTS

Latent Class Analyses classified adolescents into four distinct groups based on patterns of physical neglect, supervisory neglect, and physical, sexual, and psychological abuse: "Low-Risk" (37%), "Neglect" (19%), "Abuse" (11%), and "Multi-type CAN" (33%). The Multi-type CAN class had significantly more major depressive, generalized anxiety, and nicotine use symptoms than the Low-Risk class, and more post-traumatic stress, antisocial personality, and illicit substance use symptoms, than Low-Risk and Neglect classes. The Abuse class had significantly more generalized anxiety and attention deficit/hyperactivity symptoms than the Low-Risk class, and more major depressive, antisocial personality, and illicit substance use symptoms, than Low-Risk and Neglect classes. The Neglect class did not have elevated psychopathology symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Findings highlight important differences in the associations between lifetime CAN experience patterns and psychopathology. Researchers should explore mechanisms underlying psychopathology that are impacted by different CAN experience patterns.

Contributions of childhood abuse and neglect to reward neural substrates in adolescence

BACKGROUND

Childhood adverse experiences may come to bear particularly during adolescence, when neural reward systems are developing rapidly and psychopathology spikes. Despite prior work differentiating threat- (abuse) vs. deprivation- (neglect) related adversity, no research has yet identified their relative nor interactive contributions to reward neural substrates during adolescence. In the present study, we leveraged a diverse sample of adolescents with different childhood adversity profiles to examine neural responses to reward in relation to varying degrees of abuse vs. neglect.

METHODS

Adolescents (N = 45; 23 females; mean age = 14.9 years, SD = 1.9) completed a child-friendly monetary incentive delay task during fMRI acquisition. The self-report Childhood Trauma Questionnaire assessed childhood abuse and neglect. Whole brain ANCOVA analyses evaluated reward anticipation (reward vs. no reward expected) and feedback (hitting vs. missing the target with a reward vs. no reward) in relation to abuse and neglect dimensions.

RESULTS

Whole-brain analyses revealed that abuse, adjusted for neglect, is associated with greater differences between task conditions (reward vs. no reward, hit vs. miss) in regions associated with threat/emotion regulation (prefrontal and temporal cortices, as well as posterior regions including fusiform and posterior cingulate/precuneus). Additionally, level of neglect modulated neural response associated with abuse in prefrontal and temporoparietal regions, such that youths with high levels of both abuse and neglect showed qualitatively different, more exaggerated neural patterns compared to youths with elevated adversity in only one dimension.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that early experiences of abuse and neglect have a long developmental reach resulting in reward-related neural alterations in adolescence. Moreover, our results bolster theoretical conceptualizations of adversity along threat and deprivation dimensions and provide evidence that "adding up" adverse life events may not be sufficient to capture the qualitatively different neural profiles produced by differing combinations of types of adversity, which may in turn necessitate different treatment approaches.

Younger people and people with higher subjective SES experienced more negative effects of the pandemic on their friendships

Friendships provide social support and mental health benefits, yet the COVID-19 pandemic has limited interactions with friends. In August 2020, we asked participants (N = 634) about their friendships during the pandemic as part of a larger study. We found that younger people and people with higher subjective SES reported more negative effects on their friendships, including feeling more isolated and lonelier. We also found that stress, isolation, and guilt were associated with greater COVID-related social risk-taking, such as making and visiting new friends in person. Our results suggest the pandemic is affecting friendships differently across demographic groups and these negative effects might motivate social risk-taking.

Positive Functioning Moderates the Association between Classes of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with short- and long-term psychological health, but most research, to date, relies on retrospective self-reports during adulthood to test this association. Moreover, there is limited evidence on how ACEs group together and differentially influence mental health, as well as factors that promote positive outcomes in the context of ACEs. The present study used secondary data of children and their biological parents from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,487; M _age = 9.30, SD = .40 years; 52% male) to test if meaningful subgroups of ACE exposure existed at age 9, and if positive adolescent functioning moderated the association between ACE exposure class membership at age 9 and adolescent depressive symptoms at age 15. Results revealed three distinct classes: an impoverished and interpersonally abused class, a single-parent and impoverished class, and a low adversity class. Positive adolescent functioning moderated the association between class membership and depressive symptoms. Specifically, individuals in the impoverished and interpersonally abused and low adversity classes had the highest levels of depressive symptoms at low levels of positive functioning, and the lowest levels of depressive symptoms at high levels of positive functioning. Results support prior evidence that children experiencing interpersonal abuse group together into a latent class and provide a nuanced perspective on factors that promote positive functioning in the context of various constellations of ACEs.

The Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Financial Security in Adulthood

This study provides an evidence-based link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adult financial wellbeing. Drawing on a comprehensive financial wellbeing framework that was developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we analyze data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a survey designed primarily to measure health behaviors and outcomes, but which also asks about financial wellbeing aspects such as food and housing security. We use ordered probit analysis to investigate how respondents' self-reported levels of food security and housing security are influenced by demographics that include remembered ACEs and find that, at various income levels, financial stress in adulthood is related to childhood trauma. This interdisciplinary approach to studying financial outcomes extends work in public health and psychology that establishes a link between ACEs and adult physical and mental health measures. The finding is timely as policy makers craft responses to global public health, financial, and other shocks. Recognizing this link between ACEs and adult financial wellbeing provides additional evidence that educators, therapists, social workers, and other professionals should collaborate and develop integrated practices to prevent or reduce ACEs and promote resilience.

Longitudinal Associations Between Trauma Exposure and Executive Functions in Children: Findings from a Dutch Birth Cohort Study

This study is the first to distinguish two possible predictive directions between trauma exposure and executive functioning in children in a community sample. The sample consists of 1006 children from two time points with a seven years’ time interval of a longitudinal Dutch birth cohort study, the ABCD-study (Van Eijsden et al., 2011). We analyzed the longitudinal associations between trauma exposure and executive functioning using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that (after controlling for prenatal substance exposure and mothers’ educational level) trauma exposure before age 5 is predictive of poorer executive functioning at age 12 and trauma exposure between age 6 and 12. However, the association between executive functioning at age 5 and trauma exposure between age 6 and 12 was not statistically significant. Our results indicate that early life trauma exposure has a long term impact on later executive functioning and not the other way around. On top of that, trauma exposure seems to accumulate across childhood when children are exposed to a traumatic event before the age of 5. When looking at the potential moderating role of parenting behavior we found no evidence for such a moderating effect of parenting behavior. Our findings showed that children exposed to trauma early in life may experience problems in executive functioning later in life and they seem at higher risk for cumulative trauma exposure. Clinical practice should take this into account in both the way they provide (early) mental health care and in prevention and recognition of early trauma exposure.

The longitudinal influences of adverse childhood experiences and positive childhood experiences at family, school, and neighborhood on adolescent depression and anxiety

BACKGROUND

Adolescent depression and anxiety are major mental health concerns. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are risk factors for depression and anxiety in adolescence and positive childhood experiences at home, school, and neighborhood are protective factors. Few studies, however, have compared the longitudinal effects of these two sets of contextual risk and protective factors on depression and anxiety among adolescents by framing them together.

METHODS

This study used data on a subsample of 3426 socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents collected at their birth, ages one, three, five, nine, and fifteen. Logistic regression was used to examine the longitudinal effects of ACEs, focusing on childhood maltreatment and family dysfunctions, and positive childhood experiences with family, school, and neighborhood on the risks of depression and anxiety. Adolescents' characteristics and their families' socioeconomic status were adjusted.

RESULTS

In the two ACEs subcategories, childhood maltreatment exposures increased the risks only for later anxiety; family dysfunction increased the risks for both later depression and anxiety. In the three contexts, positive childhood experiences at family and school protected at-risk adolescents against both mental health concerns, whereas neighborhood collective efficacy protected adolescents only against depression.

LIMITATIONS

Resilience was examined as an outcome only; it can also be examined as a process. Neither teachers' nor grandparents' supports were included.

CONCLUSIONS

ACEs maltreatment and family dysfunction are two different risk dimensions for adolescent depression and anxiety. Positive childhood experiences at family are the strongest protective factors for children exposed to ACEs, followed by these in school and neighborhood. Early interventions building positive relationships may benefit adolescent mental health.

Gender Differences in the Violence Exposure Types That Predict PTSD and Depression in Adolescents

Both specific forms of violence and polyvictimization have been associated with an increased risk for negative mental health outcomes in youth. Despite evidence of gender differences in trauma experience and impact, gender patterns in the comparative contribution of specific violence exposures versus polyvictimization to mental health outcomes have seldom been explored. The few existing studies have all been conducted in high-income countries, while there is a dearth of research from lower and middle-income countries. This study examined the contribution of witnessed and direct community violence, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and different levels of polyvictimization to the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in a clinic sample of children and adolescents (n = 310) in South Africa. Although polyvictimization rates were high across both genders, polyvictimization posed differential risks for boys and girls. For girls, higher levels of polyvictimization, but not individual violence types, predicted both PTSD and depression severity. For boys, polyvictimization did not predict PTSD or depression severity. Higher levels of victimization in the community predicted PTSD severity among boys, while no forms of violence predicted depression. The findings confirm the value of examining gender patterns in the risk for posttraumatic sequelae posed by exposure to specific and cumulative forms of violence. Implications for interventions with youth in high-violence contexts such as South Africa are considered.

Distress Tolerance as a Mechanism Linking Violence Exposure to Problematic Alcohol use in Adolescence

Adolescents exposed to violence are at elevated risk of developing most forms of psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse. Prior research has identified emotional reactivity and difficulties with emotion regulation as core mechanisms linking violence exposure with psychopathology. Scant research has examined behavioral responses to distress as a mechanism in this association. This study examined the association of violence exposure with distress tolerance-the ability to persist in the face of distress-and whether lower distress tolerance linked violence exposure with subsequent increases in depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse problems during adolescence. Data were collected prospectively in a sample of 287 adolescents aged 16-17 (44.3% male; 40.8% White). At Time 1, participants provided self-report of demographics, violence exposure, and psychopathology, and completed a behavioral measure of distress tolerance, the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task. Four months later, participants (n = 237) repeated the psychopathology assessments. Violence exposure was associated with lower distress tolerance (β = -.21 p = .009), and elevated concurrent psychopathology (β = .16-.45, p = .001-.004). Low distress tolerance was prospectively associated with greater likelihood of abusing alcohol over time (OR = .63, p = .021), and mediated the association between violence exposure and greater levels (β = .02, 95% CI [.001, .063]) and likelihood (OR = .03, 95% CI [.006, .065]) of alcohol use over time. In contrast, low distress tolerance was not associated concurrently or prospectively with internalizing symptoms. Results persisted after controlling for socio-economic status. Findings suggest that distress tolerance is shaped by early experiences of threat and plays a role in the association between violence exposure and development of problematic alcohol use in adolescence.

Recent stressful life events and stress sensitivity in children and adolescents at clinical risk for psychosis

Although psychosocial stress is consistently described as a casual factor for psychosis, the role of recent stressful life events (SLEs) is inconclusive. Studies with subjects with psychosis risk syndrome (PRS), fail to show a large number of SLEs but suggest greater stress sensitivity in these populations. We evaluate the presence of recent SLEs and stress sensitivity, and their relationship with symptoms and functionality in a sample consisting exclusively of help-seeking children and adolescents. Seventy-two 10- to 17-year-old help-seeking subjects who met PRS criteria and forty-two healthy control (HC) subjects participated in a naturalistic multi-site study. Measures of stress included the Stressful Life Events Schedule (SLES) and the G4 item of the Scale for Prodromal Syndromes (SOPS) scale. Child and adolescent PRS subjects presented greater number of SLEs during the previous year, greater total accumulated stress, greater sensitivity to stress, and more impaired tolerance to normal stress than did HC subjects. Stress measures showed a relationship with positive and negative attenuated symptoms, clinical variables and functionality. Our results support the role of stress in the PRS status. It reinforces the suggested differences for clinical presentation of PRS in terms of age, highlighting the importance of gathering data on the under-18 population.

Complex childhood trauma, gender and depression: Patterns and correlates of help-seeking and maladaptive coping

BACKGROUND

Little is known about access to treatment or maladaptive coping amongst those with a history of childhood trauma and subsequent depressive disorder, which is often complicated by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

AIMS

To (1) identify profiles of complex childhood trauma amongst men and women with major depression, (2) examine patterns of service access and treatment or maladaptive coping (drug misuse, alcohol abuse or suicidality), and (3) associations with socio-economic/demographic characteristics, comorbid PTSD, anxiety/mood disorders and perceived social support.

METHOD

Analysis of Wave 3 of the national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions (NESARC) (2012-2013). We use the Latent Class Analysis 3-step approach in Mplus to examine individual differences in childhood experiences and coping behaviour. We examined both (a) the inter-relationship of this patterning, and (b) the extent to which proactive and maladaptive coping are associated with socio-economic/demographic characteristics, comorbid PTSD, anxiety disorders and perceived social support.

RESULTS

a diagnosis of Major Depression was recorded for 7432 people, two thirds of whom reported a history of complex childhood trauma. Maladaptive coping is associated with the most severe trauma groups, comorbid PTSD, dysthymia, and anxiety disorders.

CONCLUSION

Given the evidence of the current study, suggesting a poorer treatment course for depression in adults with complex childhood trauma, early screening for a trauma history will facilitate preventive efforts before onset of depression, possibly mitigating a poorer treatment course.

The relationship between early and recent life stress and emotional expression processing: A functional connectivity study

The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals characterized by two factors: the levels of stress experienced in early life and in adulthood. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing. Hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. The interaction between early and recent stress was related to alterations during the processing of emotional expressions mainly in to the cerebellum, middle temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. For cumulative stress levels, such alterations were observed in functional connectivity to the middle temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, precuneus, precentral and postcentral gyri, anterior and posterior cingulate gyri, and Heschl's gyrus. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress.

Childhood adversities and mental health outcomes: Does the perception or age of the event matter?

The current study extends knowledge regarding the individual contribution of different adverse experiences to mental health symptoms in late adolescence by including the perception of how upsetting each experience was to the adolescent and the age at the first occurrence. We also sought to move beyond sum scores of adverse experiences by using a person-centered approach to classifying individuals with similar co-occurrence of adversities. The data came from a longitudinal study of maltreatment on adolescent development (N = 454). Self-reported childhood adversities were assessed at Wave 4 (average of 7 years postbaseline) and examined with respect to current mental health symptoms (depression, PTSD, anxiety, and externalizing). Although the adversity sum score was a potent predictor of all mental health outcomes, the results indicated that the use of a sum score obscures information about the importance of individual adversities. Additionally, the influence of age of occurrence varied based on the adversity and outcome, while the perception of the event did not add much unique variance. Finally, the latent class analyses provided unique information about the patterns of co-occurring adversity in this sample, and that membership in either of the multiple-adversity classes was associated with more mental health symptoms.