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. 2019 Feb;58(2):242-255.e2.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.07.905. Epub 2018 Dec 20.

Early Sexual Trauma Exposure and Neural Response Inhibition in Adolescence and Young Adults: Trajectories of Frontal Theta Oscillations During a Go/No-Go Task

Jacquelyn Meyers  1 , Vivia V McCutcheon  2 , Ashwini K Pandey  3 , Chella Kamarajan  3 , Stacey Subbie  3 , David Chorlian  3 , Jessica Salvatore  4 , Gayathri Pandey  3 , Laura Almasy  5 , Andrey Anokhin  2 , Lance Bauer  6 , Annah Bender  7 , Danielle M Dick  8 , Howard J Edenberg  9 , Victor Hesselbrock  6 , John Kramer  10 , Samuel Kuperman  10 , Arpana Agrawal  2 , Kathleen Bucholz  2 , Bernice Porjesz  3
Affiliations

Early Sexual Trauma Exposure and Neural Response Inhibition in Adolescence and Young Adults: Trajectories of Frontal Theta Oscillations During a Go/No-Go Task

Jacquelyn Meyers et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: Trauma, particularly when experienced early in life, can alter neurophysiologic and behavioral development, thereby increasing risk for substance use disorders and related psychopathology. However, few studies have empirically examined trauma using well-characterized developmental samples that are followed longitudinally.

Method: The association of assaultive, non-assaultive, and sexual assaultive experiences before 10 years of age with developmental trajectories of brain function during response inhibition was examined by measuring electrophysiologic theta and delta oscillations during no-go and go conditions in an equal probability go/no-go task. Data were drawn from the Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) prospective cohort, composed of offspring who were aged 12 through 22 years at enrollment from high-risk and comparison families, with follow-ups at 2-year intervals since 2004. In addition, other important predictors of neurophysiologic functioning (eg, substance use, impulsivity, and parental alcohol use disorders) were investigated. Moreover, associations of neurophysiologic functioning with alcohol and cannabis use disorder symptom counts and externalizing and internalizing psychopathology were examined.

Results: Individuals exposed to sexual assaultive trauma before 10 years of age had slower rates of change in developmental trajectories of no-go frontal theta during response inhibition. Importantly, effects remained significant after accounting for exposure to other traumatic exposures, such as parental history of alcohol use disorder and participants' substance use, but not measures of impulsivity. Further, slower rates of change in no-go frontal theta adolescent and young adult development were associated with increased risk for alcohol use disorder symptoms and internalizing psychopathology, but not for cannabis use disorder symptoms or externalizing psychopathology.

Conclusion: Childhood sexual assault is associated with atypical frontal neurophysiologic development during response inhibition. This could reflect alterations in frontal lobe development, synaptic pruning, and/or cortical maturation involving neural circuits for inhibitory control. These same areas could be associated with increased risk for young adult alcohol use disorder symptoms and internalizing psychopathology. These findings support the hypothesis that changes in neurocognitive development related to early sexual trauma exposure could increase the risk for mental health and substance use problems in young adulthood.

Keywords: alcohol dependence; event-related oscillations; inhibition; internalizing; sexual abuse.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Dr. Kuperman has served as a researcher of a double-blind placebo-controlled trial for neurocrine. The medication is being tested as an alternative choice for adolescents with Tourette’s syndrome. His involvement consisted of providing medical monitoring for 2 adolescent boys and the study is completed. There is no overlap with this study. Dr. Bucholz reports that her spouse has a consulting relation with a medical device company and holds several patents, but these are not related to the present work. Drs. Meyers, McCutcheon, Pandey, Kamarajan, Salvatore, Pandey, Almasy, Anokhin, Bauer, Bender, Dick, Edenberg, Hesselbrock, Kramer, Agrawal, and Porjesz, Ms. Subbie, and Mr. Chorlian report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Effects of Early Trauma Exposure on No-Go Frontal Theta Power From Baseline Through Follow-Up 4 and Associations With Substance Use Disorder and Psychopathology Note: Parameter estimates (and standard errors) are displayed only for statistically significant pathways. Not pictured, but also included in this model, are the following covariates: gender, race/ethnicity, age, alcohol use and cannabis use, and parental alcohol use disorder. Internalizing psychopathology count scores included DSM-IV lifetime symptoms for major depressive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and an additional item—suicidal ideation. Externalizing psychopathology count scores included conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Data from each individual’s most recent interview were used. Sx = symptom. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Adjusted Mean Trajectories of No-Go Frontal Theta by Sexual Assaultive Trauma Exposure Note: Models are adjusted for gender, self-reported race/ethnicity, age at assessment, and parental history of alcohol dependence. The comparison group includes participants who were not exposed to sexual trauma before 10 years of age (93.4% of analytic sample).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
No-Go Frontal Theta by Early Sexual Assaultive Trauma Exposure Note: This figure depicts differences in frontal theta no-go power values at baseline observed in participants who (A) were not exposed and (B) were exposed to sexual trauma before 10 years of age. Note the more focused frontal topography and more efficient neural synchronization (ie, higher theta event-related oscillation power values) during response inhibition (no-go condition of go/no-go task) in participants who were not exposed to trauma. In contrast, the frontal topography indicates a less efficient neural synchronization (ie, lower event-related oscillation power values) during response inhibition (no-go condition of go/no-go task) in participants who were exposed to trauma. Please note color figures are available online.
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