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. 2018 Mar;57(3):183-190.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2017.12.011. Epub 2017 Dec 28.

Early Childhood Adverse Experiences, Inferior Frontal Gyrus Connectivity, and the Trajectory of Externalizing Psychopathology

Deanna M Barch  1 , Andy C Belden  2 , Rebecca Tillman  2 , Diana Whalen  2 , Joan L Luby  2
Affiliations

Early Childhood Adverse Experiences, Inferior Frontal Gyrus Connectivity, and the Trajectory of Externalizing Psychopathology

Deanna M Barch et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: Early adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to the development of both internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. In our prior work, we found that ACEs predicted reductions in the volume of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a brain region important for impulse control and emotion regulation. Here we tested the hypothesis that ACEs might influence child behavioral outcomes through an impact on IFG functional connectivity, which may influence impulsive or risk-taking behavior.

Method: We examined the effects of prospectively assessed ACEs on IFG connectivity in childhood, and their relationship to the trajectory of subsequent psychopathology from late school age and early adolescence, using data from an 11-year longitudinal study of children starting in preschool that included 3 waves of resting state functional connectivity across childhood and early adolescence.

Results: ACEs predicted functional connectivity of both left and right IFG. Multi-level modeling of symptoms across 3 waves of assessments indicated that more ACEs predicted both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. However, altered IFG connectivity specifically predicted greater externalizing symptoms over time in middle childhood and early adolescence, as compared to internalizing symptoms. Longitudinal modeling indicating that the relationships between externalizing and functional connectivity were maintained across 3 waves of functional connectivity assessment.

Conclusion: These findings underscore the relationship of ACEs to later psychopathology, and suggest that connectivity of the IFG, a region known to play an important role in impulse control and emotion regulation, may play a key role in the risk trajectory of ACEs to externalizing problems. However, further work is needed to understand whether these relationships reflect a direct effect of ACEs or whether ACEs are a marker for other environmental or genetic factors that may also influence brain development and behavior.

Keywords: development; externalizing; functional connectivity; inferior frontal gyrus; longitudinal.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) functional connectivity
Note: A) Average resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) of the timeseries from the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) region of interest (ROI) and every other voxel in the brain, thresholded at p<.001. B) Regions for which adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) predicted rsfMRI with left IFG, thresholded at p<.001 and 35 contiguous voxels, for a whole brain false positive rate of p=.05 based on AFNIs 3dClustSim. C) Average rsfMRI of the timeseries from the right IFG ROI and every other voxel in the brain, thresholded at p<.001. D) Regions for which ACEs predicted rsfMRI with right IFG, thresholded at p<.001 and 35 contiguous voxels, for a whole brain false positive rate of p=.05 based on AFNIs 3dClustSim.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Externalizing and functional connectivity
Note: A) Graph of relationships of externalizing symptoms to left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to left culmen and right and left inferior parietal. These connections showed a significant main effect of externalizing symptoms (see Table S5, available online). B) Graph of relationship of externalizing symptoms to left IFG to right declive connectivity across scan waves. This connection showed a significant externalizing by time interaction (see Table S5, available online).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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