Functional connectivity in central executive network protects youth against cardiometabolic risks linked with neighborhood violence

Abstract

Although violent crime has declined in recent decades, it remains a recurring feature of daily life in some neighborhoods. Mounting evidence indicates that such violence has a long reach, which goes beyond family and friends of the victim and undermines the health of people in the surrounding community. However, like all forms of adversity, community violence elicits a heterogeneous response: Some remain healthy, but others deteriorate. Despite much scientific attention, the neural circuitries that contribute to differential adaptation remain poorly understood. Drawing on knowledge of the brain's intrinsic functional architecture, we predicted that individual differences in resting-state connectivity would explain variability in the strength of the association between neighborhood violence and cardiometabolic health. We enrolled 218 urban youth (age 12-14 years, 66% female; 65% black or Latino) and used geocoding to characterize their exposure to neighborhood murder over the past five years. Multiple aspects of cardiometabolic health were assessed, including obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. Functional MRI was used to quantify the connectivity of major intrinsic networks. Consistent with predictions, resting-state connectivity within the central executive network (CEN) emerged as a moderator of adaptation. Across six distinct outcomes, a higher neighborhood murder rate was associated with greater cardiometabolic risk, but this relationship was apparent only among youth who displayed lower CEN resting-state connectivity. By contrast, there was little evidence of moderation by the anterior salience and default mode networks. These findings advance basic and applied knowledge about adaptation by highlighting intrinsic CEN connectivity as a potential neurobiological contributor to resilience. resilience | stress | children | neuroscience | cardiovascular

Higher Executive Control Network Coherence Buffers Against Puberty-Related Increases in Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The association between more advanced pubertal staging and greater increases in internalizing severity during the pandemic was not significant in adolescents with above-average ECN coherence. Our findings are consistent with previous work showing that higher ECN connectivity protected youths against cardiometabolic risks associated with neighborhood violence ( 51 ) and was a marker of resilience to depression in adolescent girls with mothers who have a history of recurrent depression ( 52 ). In both of these studies, as well as in our own findings, connectivity of ECN regions differentiated resilient and susceptible adolescents with similar levels of risk for either physical or mental health difficulties.…”

“…Together, our results demonstrate the specific role of the ECN in promoting resilience to maladaptive outcomes, as neither the DMN nor the SN exhibited effects consistent with a role in buffering against risk factors in any of these studies (including ours). Importantly, while ( 51 ) focused on an environmental risk factor and ( 52 ) focused on familial risk for depression, our study is the first to examine a biopsychosocial risk factor—off-time pubertal development—and the buffering role of the ECN against mental health difficulties during a period of major disruption and uncertainty.…”

“…The ECN and executive functioning is particularly important during periods of ambiguity or stress, when adaptive re-orientation of cognitive processes is necessary to successfully regulate emotional responses to stressors and meet situational demands ( 50 ). Miller at al., (2018) ( 51 ) found that youth with lower within-ECN resting-state connectivity showed an association between higher neighborhood murder rate and greater cardiometabolic risk; but youth with higher ECN connectivity did not exhibit this neighborhood-health risk association. Further, resilient (i.e., nondepressed) adolescent females at familial risk for depression have been found to have higher within-network ECN connectivity than do both high-risk peers with depression and low-risk peers ( 52 ).…”

Mindfulness and Behavior Change

“… 91 , 112 , 114 , 215 The overarching cognitive control network is therefore recruited to support control of belief and goal-directed strategies, flexibility creating a sense of self-agency that contributes to resiliency. 216 , 217 The dlPFC, which is a core node of the central executive network, is often activated during MM; MM enhances connectivity between the dlPFC and other executive-function regions. 218 , 219 As MM practice continues over time, the central executive network and other frontal networks may regulate the DMN in control of cognition.…”

Associations between neighborhood-level violence and individual mental disorders: Results from the World Mental Health surveys in five Latin American cities

“…These findings point to the importance of further research to understand causal dynamics, including longitudinal designs and multivariable models that include multiple aspects of neighborhood violence and other neighborhood characteristics, and which identify modifiable mediators or modifiers that might help mitigate the deleterious effects of neighborhood violence on mental health. For example, it has been found that community efficacy, defined as residents' willingness to intervene for the common good, partially mediates the association of neighborhood disadvantage and residential instability with violence (Sampson et al, 1997), and more recently that resting state connectivity within the central executive network moderates the impact of violence on cardiometabolic health (Miller et al, 2018). Conceivably, such information might lead to the development of interventions that help residents better cope with living in violent neighborhoods.…”