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Abnormalities in brain structure following childhood unpredictability: a mechanism underlying depressive and anxiety symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2023

Zhengxinyue Wang ,
Xinyu Cao ,
Xiaoyu Zheng ,
Yuanyuan Chen  and
Jianjun Zhu
Zhengxinyue Wang
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders of Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China Center for Early Environment and Brain Development, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Xinyu Cao
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders of Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China Center for Early Environment and Brain Development, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Xiaoyu Zheng
Affiliation:
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders of Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China Center for Early Environment and Brain Development, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Yuanyuan Chen*
Affiliation:
Center for Early Environment and Brain Development, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
Jianjun Zhu*
Affiliation:
Center for Early Environment and Brain Development, School of Education, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
*
Corresponding author: Jianjun Zhu; Email: jianjunzhu722@gmail.com Co-corresponding author: Yuanyuan Chen; Email: cyy0765@163.com
Corresponding author: Jianjun Zhu; Email: jianjunzhu722@gmail.com Co-corresponding author: Yuanyuan Chen; Email: cyy0765@163.com
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Abstract

Background

Childhood adversity is associated with abnormalities in brain structure, but this association has not been tested for childhood unpredictability, one form of adversity. We studied whether abnormalities in gray matter volume (GMV) could be a mechanism linking childhood unpredictability and psychopathology, over and above the effect of childhood trauma.

Methods

Participants were 158 right-handed healthy young adults (aged 17–28 years, M = 22.07, s.d. = 2.08; 66.46% female) who underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging measurements and provided retrospective reports of childhood unpredictability. The anxiety and depression subscales of the self-report Brief Symptom Inventory-53 were used to index psychopathology.

Results

Whole-brain voxel-based morphometric analyses showed that after controlling for the effect of childhood trauma, childhood unpredictability was correlated with greater GMV in bilateral frontal pole, bilateral precuneus, bilateral postcentral gyrus, right hemisphere of fusiform, and lingual gyrus, and left hemisphere of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex as well as occipital gyrus. Greater GMV in bilateral frontal pole, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral postcentral gyrus mediated associations between unpredictability and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that childhood unpredictability could exact unique effects on neural development, over and above the effect of childhood trauma. These findings are relevant for understanding the occurrence of psychopathology following childhood unpredictability and have implications for intervention.

Keywords

Anxiety symptomschildhood unpredictabilitydepressive symptomsgray matter volumemediation
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , January 2024 , pp. 299 - 307
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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