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Childhood socioeconomic status and childhood maltreatment : Distinct associations with brain structure

Lawson, Gwendolyn M ; Camins, Joshua S ; Wisse, Laura LU orcid ; Wu, Jue ; Duda, Jeffrey T ; Cook, Philip A ; Gee, James C and Farah, Martha J (2017) In PLoS ONE 12(4).
Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment, and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala between the ages of 25 and 36 years. Previous work has linked both low SES and maltreatment with reduced hippocampal volume in childhood, an effect attributed to childhood stress. In 46 adult subjects, only childhood maltreatment, and not childhood SES, predicted hippocampal volume in regression analyses, with greater maltreatment associated with lower volume. Neither factor was related to amygdala volume. When current SES and recent interpersonal stressful events were also considered, recent interpersonal stressful events predicted smaller hippocampal volumes over and above... (More)

The present study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment, and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala between the ages of 25 and 36 years. Previous work has linked both low SES and maltreatment with reduced hippocampal volume in childhood, an effect attributed to childhood stress. In 46 adult subjects, only childhood maltreatment, and not childhood SES, predicted hippocampal volume in regression analyses, with greater maltreatment associated with lower volume. Neither factor was related to amygdala volume. When current SES and recent interpersonal stressful events were also considered, recent interpersonal stressful events predicted smaller hippocampal volumes over and above childhood maltreatment. Finally, exploratory analyses revealed a significant sex by childhood SES interaction, with women's childhood SES showing a significantly more positive relation (less negative) with hippocampus volume than men's. The overall effect of childhood maltreatment but not SES, and the sex-specific effect of childhood SES, indicate that different forms of stressful childhood adversity affect brain development differently.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Adult, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, Amygdala/growth & development, Brain/growth & development, Child, Child Abuse, Female, Hippocampus/growth & development, Humans, Life Change Events, Male, Organ Size, Poverty, Social Class, Stress, Psychological/pathology
in
PLoS ONE
volume
12
issue
4
article number
e0175690
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85017550328
  • pmid:28414755
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0175690
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
1c5aeac5-2538-41e4-9a81-f0acbc831235
date added to LUP
2024-02-28 14:55:01
date last changed
2024-04-14 02:06:55
@article{1c5aeac5-2538-41e4-9a81-f0acbc831235,
  abstract     = {{<p>The present study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment, and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala between the ages of 25 and 36 years. Previous work has linked both low SES and maltreatment with reduced hippocampal volume in childhood, an effect attributed to childhood stress. In 46 adult subjects, only childhood maltreatment, and not childhood SES, predicted hippocampal volume in regression analyses, with greater maltreatment associated with lower volume. Neither factor was related to amygdala volume. When current SES and recent interpersonal stressful events were also considered, recent interpersonal stressful events predicted smaller hippocampal volumes over and above childhood maltreatment. Finally, exploratory analyses revealed a significant sex by childhood SES interaction, with women's childhood SES showing a significantly more positive relation (less negative) with hippocampus volume than men's. The overall effect of childhood maltreatment but not SES, and the sex-specific effect of childhood SES, indicate that different forms of stressful childhood adversity affect brain development differently.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lawson, Gwendolyn M and Camins, Joshua S and Wisse, Laura and Wu, Jue and Duda, Jeffrey T and Cook, Philip A and Gee, James C and Farah, Martha J}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  keywords     = {{Adult; Adult Survivors of Child Abuse; Amygdala/growth & development; Brain/growth & development; Child; Child Abuse; Female; Hippocampus/growth & development; Humans; Life Change Events; Male; Organ Size; Poverty; Social Class; Stress, Psychological/pathology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Childhood socioeconomic status and childhood maltreatment : Distinct associations with brain structure}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175690}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0175690}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}