Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Frontier Hall, Room 331, 2155 S. Race St, Denver, CO, 80208, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2019 Apr;19(2):309-326. doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-00670-3.
Socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with higher rates of psychopathology as well as hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex structure. However, little is known about how variations in brain morphometry are associated with socio-emotional risks for mood disorders in children growing up in families experiencing low income. In the current study, using structural magnetic resonance imaging, we examined the relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and gray matter volume in the hippocampus, amygdala, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in a sample of children (n = 34) in middle childhood. Using an affective dot probe paradigm, we examined the association between gray matter volume in these regions and attentional bias to threat, a risk marker for mood disorders including anxiety disorders. We found that lower income-to-needs ratio was associated with lower bilateral hippocampal and right amygdala volume, but not prefrontal cortex volumes. Moreover, lower attentional bias to threat was associated with greater left hippocampal volume. We provide evidence of a relationship between income-related variations in brain structure and attentional bias to threat, a risk for mood disorders. Therefore, these findings support an environment-morphometry-behavior relationship that contributes to the understanding of income-related mental health disparities in childhood.
社会经济地位低下与更高的精神病理学发病率以及海马体、杏仁核和前额叶皮层结构有关。然而，对于在收入较低的家庭中成长的儿童，大脑形态的变化如何与情绪障碍的社会情感风险相关，我们知之甚少。在目前的研究中，我们使用结构磁共振成像，在一组儿童（n = 34）的样本中研究了社会经济劣势与海马体、杏仁核和腹外侧前额叶皮层灰质体积之间的关系。我们使用情感点探测范式，研究了这些区域的灰质体积与威胁注意偏向之间的关联，威胁注意偏向是情绪障碍（包括焦虑障碍）的风险标志物。我们发现，较低的收入需求比与双侧海马体和右侧杏仁核体积较低有关，但与前额叶皮层体积无关。此外，较低的威胁注意偏向与左海马体体积较大有关。我们提供了证据表明，大脑结构与威胁注意偏向之间存在与收入相关的变化，这是情绪障碍的一个风险因素。因此，这些发现支持了一种环境-形态学-行为的关系，有助于理解儿童时期与收入相关的心理健康差异。
