Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André 09210-580, Brazil.
Interdisciplinary Lab for Clinical Neurosciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04021-001, Brazil.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 16;19(10):6055. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19106055.
Most early children's experiences will occur in a family context; therefore, the quality of this environment is critical for development outcomes. Not many studies have assessed the correlations between brain functional connectivity (FC) in important areas such as the default mode network (DMN) and the quality of parent-child relationships in school-age children and early adolescence. The quality of family relationships and maternal behavior have been suggested to modulate DMN FC once they act as external regulators of children's affect and behavior. We aimed to test the associations between the quality of family environment/maternal behavior and FC within the DMN of school-age children. Resting-state, functional magnetic resonance imaging data, were collected from 615 children (6-12 age range) enrolled in the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort (HRC) study. We assessed DMN intra-connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL-bilateral) regions. The family functioning was assessed by levels of family cohesiveness and conflict and by maternal behavior styles such as maternal responsiveness, maternal stimulus to the child's autonomy, and maternal overprotection. The family environment was assessed with the Family Environment Scale (FES), and maternal behavior was assessed by the mother's self-report. We found that the quality of the family environment was correlated with intra-DMN FC. The more conflicting the family environment was, the greater the FC between the mPFC-left IPL (lIPL), while a more cohesive family functioning was negatively correlated with FC between the PCC-lIPL. On the other hand, when moderated by a positive maternal behavior, cohesive family functioning was associated with increased FC in both regions of the DMN (mPFC-lIPL and PCC-lIPL). Our results highlight that the quality of the family environment might be associated with differences in the intrinsic DMN FC.
大多数儿童早期的经历都发生在家庭环境中；因此，这种环境的质量对发展结果至关重要。很少有研究评估过大脑功能连接（FC）在重要区域（如默认模式网络（DMN））与学龄儿童和青春期早期亲子关系质量之间的相关性。家庭关系的质量和母亲的行为被认为可以调节 DMN 的 FC，因为它们可以作为儿童情感和行为的外部调节者。我们旨在测试家庭环境/母亲行为质量与学龄儿童 DMN 内 FC 之间的关联。从巴西高危队列（HRC）研究中招募的 615 名儿童（6-12 岁年龄范围）中收集了静息态功能磁共振成像数据。我们评估了内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）、后扣带回皮层（PCC）和下顶叶皮层（双侧 IPL）区域之间的 DMN 内连接。家庭功能通过家庭凝聚力和冲突水平以及母亲行为风格（如母亲对孩子的反应能力、母亲对孩子自主性的刺激和母亲过度保护）来评估。家庭环境由家庭环境量表（FES）评估，母亲行为由母亲自我报告评估。我们发现，家庭环境的质量与 DMN 内 FC 相关。家庭环境冲突越大，mPFC-左 IPL（lIPL）之间的 FC 越大，而凝聚力越强的家庭功能与 PCC-lIPL 之间的 FC 呈负相关。另一方面，当由积极的母亲行为调节时，凝聚力强的家庭功能与 DMN 中两个区域（mPFC-lIPL 和 PCC-lIPL）的 FC 增加有关。我们的研究结果强调，家庭环境的质量可能与 DMN 内在 FC 的差异有关。
