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

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 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.

Sex Differences in Trauma-Related Psychopathology: a Critical Review of Neuroimaging Literature (2014–2017)

“…Another study examined the relationship between brain volumes and current and childhood negative interpersonal events, and current and childhood socioeconomic status (SES). In males, but not females, childhood SES was marginally related to left hippocampal volumes and higher adversity associated with higher right amygdala volume in females and with lower right amygdala volume in males [50•]. However, this study also found gray matter surplus among females, with higher adversity associated with higher right amygdala volume in females and with lower right amygdala volume in males.…”

“…All manuscripts employed MRI imaging methods but one, which employed PET. Of these, five [47•, 48, 49, 50•, 51] used structural imaging only, four of which included only gray matter volumetrics and one also employed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for structural connectivity. Of the eight remaining studies, which used functional imaging, one [52•] employed resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses as well as DTI, and six studies [53•, 54•, 55•, 56•, 57•, 58•] employed task-bound functional MRI (fMRI).…”

“…However, this study also found gray matter surplus among females, with higher adversity associated with higher right amygdala volume in females and with lower right amygdala volume in males. Higher right amygdala volume in females, but not males, was associated with current SES, and lower amygdala volume was found to associate with current interpersonal events among males, but not females [50•]. This suggests specific effects on the amygdala and hippocampus dependent on sex and timing of stressor.…”

The relationship between cognitive enrichment and cognitive control: A systematic investigation of environmental influences on development through socioeconomic status

“…Lawson, Camins, et al. () and Lawson, Hook, et al. () recently conducted a meta‐analysis of the impact of SES on executive functions and found mixed results and only a medium effects size.…”

“…However, our goal is to understand how SES across a wide income range impacts WM, not how the biological embedding of stress impacts WM. A critical distinction is that stress and enrichment act through different mechanisms to shape development (Amso & Lynn, ; Conger & Donnellan, ; Johnson et al., ; Lawson, Camins, et al., ; Lawson, Hook, et al., ; McLaughlin & Sheridan, ; McLaughlin et al., ; Sheridan, Peverill, Finn, & McLaughlin, ; Ursache & Noble, ) . When incorporating the adversities more common in poverty, there is little doubt that stresses acts to shape outcomes.…”