Common and Distinct Neural Underpinnings of the Association Between Childhood Maltreatment and Depression and Aggressive Behavior

Overview

Journal BMC Psychiatry

Publisher Biomed Central

Date 2025 Jan 17

PMID 39825275

Authors

Yuan Li

Ting Zhang

Xin Hou

Xiaoyi Chen

Yu Mao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Although childhood maltreatment (CM) is widely recognized as a transdiagnostic risk factor for various internalizing and externalizing psychological disorders, the neural basis underlying this association remain unclear. The potential reasons for the inconsistent findings may be attributed to the involvement of both common and specific neural pathways that mediate the influence of childhood maltreatment on the emergence of psychopathological conditions.

Methods: This study aimed to delineate both the common and distinct neural pathways linking childhood maltreatment to depression and aggression. First, we employed Network-Based Statistics (NBS) on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to identify functional connectivity (FC) patterns associated with depression and aggression. Mediation analyses were then conducted to assess the role of these FC patterns in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and each outcome.

Results: The results demonstrated that FC within the default mode network (DMN) and between the cingulo-opercular network (CON) and dorsal attention network (DAN) mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and aggression, whereas FC within the reward system and between the CON and the reward system mediated the link between childhood maltreatment and depression.

Conclusions: We speculate that the control system may serve as a transdiagnostic neural basis accounting for the sequela of childhood maltreatment, and the attention network and the reward network may act as specific neural basis linking childhood maltreatment to depression and aggression, respectively.

References

Hanson J, Nacewicz B, Sutterer M, Cayo A, Schaefer S, Rudolph K . Behavioral problems after early life stress: contributions of the hippocampus and amygdala. Biol Psychiatry. 2014; 77(4):314-23. PMC: 4241384. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.04.020. View

Cermakova P, Andryskova L, Brazdil M, Mareckova K . Socioeconomic deprivation in early life and symptoms of depression and anxiety in young adulthood: mediating role of hippocampal connectivity. Psychol Med. 2020; 52(13):2671-2680. PMC: 9647532. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720004754. View

Wu X, Lin P, Yang J, Song H, Yang R, Yang J . Dysfunction of the cingulo-opercular network in first-episode medication-naive patients with major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2016; 200:275-83. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.04.046. View

Weathersby F, King J, Fox J, Loret A, Anderson J . Functional connectivity of emotional well-being: Overconnectivity between default and attentional networks is associated with attitudes of anger and aggression. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2019; 291:52-62. PMC: 6708495. DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.08.001. View

Lee V, Hoaken P . Cognition, emotion, and neurobiological development: mediating the relation between maltreatment and aggression. Child Maltreat. 2007; 12(3):281-98. DOI: 10.1177/1077559507303778. View

Santens E, Claes L, Dierckx E, Dom G . Effortful Control - A Transdiagnostic Dimension Underlying Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology. Neuropsychobiology. 2020; 79(4-5):255-269. DOI: 10.1159/000506134. View

Hart H, Lim L, Mehta M, Chatzieffraimidou A, Curtis C, Xu X . Reduced functional connectivity of fronto-parietal sustained attention networks in severe childhood abuse. PLoS One. 2017; 12(11):e0188744. PMC: 5708742. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188744. View

Hofmann W, Schmeichel B, Baddeley A . Executive functions and self-regulation. Trends Cogn Sci. 2012; 16(3):174-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.01.006. View

Zeev-Wolf M, Levy J, Goldstein A, Zagoory-Sharon O, Feldman R . Chronic Early Stress Impairs Default Mode Network Connectivity in Preadolescents and Their Mothers. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2018; 4(1):72-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.09.009. View

10.

Andrews-Hanna J, Reidler J, Sepulcre J, Poulin R, Buckner R . Functional-anatomic fractionation of the brain's default network. Neuron. 2010; 65(4):550-62. PMC: 2848443. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.02.005. View

11.

Demir-Lira O, Voss J, ONeil J, Briggs-Gowan M, Wakschlag L, Booth J . Early-life stress exposure associated with altered prefrontal resting-state fMRI connectivity in young children. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2016; 19:107-14. PMC: 4912914. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.02.003. View

12.

McClure S, Laibson D, Loewenstein G, Cohen J . Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science. 2004; 306(5695):503-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.1100907. View

13.

Liu W, Wei D, Chen Q, Yang W, Meng J, Wu G . Longitudinal test-retest neuroimaging data from healthy young adults in southwest China. Sci Data. 2017; 4:170017. PMC: 5308199. DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.17. View

14.

Dennison M, Sheridan M, Busso D, Jenness J, Peverill M, Rosen M . Neurobehavioral markers of resilience to depression amongst adolescents exposed to child abuse. J Abnorm Psychol. 2016; 125(8):1201-1212. PMC: 5119749. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000215. View

15.

Hamilton J, Furman D, Chang C, Thomason M, Dennis E, Gotlib I . Default-mode and task-positive network activity in major depressive disorder: implications for adaptive and maladaptive rumination. Biol Psychiatry. 2011; 70(4):327-33. PMC: 3144981. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.02.003. View

16.

Gardner M, Thomas H, Erskine H . The association between five forms of child maltreatment and depressive and anxiety disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Abuse Negl. 2019; 96:104082. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104082. View

17.

Haber S, Knutson B . The reward circuit: linking primate anatomy and human imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009; 35(1):4-26. PMC: 3055449. DOI: 10.1038/npp.2009.129. View

18.

Preacher K, Hayes A . Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav Res Methods. 2008; 40(3):879-91. DOI: 10.3758/brm.40.3.879. View

19.

Peverill M, Sheridan M, Busso D, McLaughlin K . Atypical Prefrontal-Amygdala Circuitry Following Childhood Exposure to Abuse: Links With Adolescent Psychopathology. Child Maltreat. 2019; 24(4):411-423. PMC: 6813859. DOI: 10.1177/1077559519852676. View

20.

Dosenbach N, Fair D, Miezin F, Cohen A, Wenger K, Dosenbach R . Distinct brain networks for adaptive and stable task control in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007; 104(26):11073-8. PMC: 1904171. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0704320104. View