Early Life Stress, Frontoamygdala Connectivity, and Biological Aging in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Investigation
Year: 2020
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Early life stress (ELS) may accelerate frontoamygdala development related to socioemotional processing, serving as a potential source of resilience. Whether this circuit is associated with other proposed measures of accelerated development is unknown. In a sample of young adolescents, we examined the relations among ELS, frontoamygdala circuitry during viewing of emotional faces, cellular aging as measured by telomere shortening, and pubertal tempo. We found that greater cumulative severity of ELS was associated with stronger negative coupling between bilateral centromedial amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a pattern that may reflect more mature connectivity. More negative frontoamygdala coupling (for distinct amygdala subdivisions) was associated with slower telomere shortening and pubertal tempo over 2 years. These potentially protective associations of negative frontoamygdala connectivity were most pronounced in adolescents who had been exposed to higher ELS. Our findings provide support for the formulation that ELS accelerates maturation of frontoamygdala connectivity and provide novel evidence that this neural circuitry confers protection against accelerated biological aging, particularly for adolescents who have experienced higher ELS. Although negative frontoamygdala connectivity may be an adaptation to ELS, frontoamygdala connectivity, cellular aging, and pubertal tempo do not appear to be measures of the same developmental process.
Source: Cerebral Cortex
Language: English
Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G1035381911, G263694925, G3547127739, Telomere Length as a Mediator Between Early Life Stress and Child Health Outcomes, G4204116962, The Roles of Inflammatory and Glutamatergic Processes in the Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Underlying Adolescent Depression, G4945075328, Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms linking Childhood Adversity with Adolescent Psychopathology: Pubertal Timing and Cortical-Limbic Circuitry, G728873248, G7992689549, G8100028104, Trajectories of Brain Connectivity, Depressive Symptoms, and Parenting in Puberty, Research Training for Child Psychiatry and Neurodevelopment, Psychobiological Mechanisms Underlying the Association Between Early Life Stress and Depression Across Adolescence
OpenAlex ID: W3013923761