From the Department of Psychological Science (Delgadillo, Pressman), University of California Irvine, Irvine, California; Department of Psychiatry (Christian, Bailey), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University, College of Medicine (Galley); and Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital (Bailey), Columbus, Ohio.
Psychosom Med. 2022 Sep 1;84(7):749-756. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001103. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
Emerging research has connected abundances of specific bacteria to differences in psychosocial behaviors in animals and adult humans. However, research assessing mind-microbiome associations in children is sparse with extant work primarily focused on populations with autism, making it unclear whether links are also present in typically developing children. The current study fills this gap by examining associations between prosocial-self-regulating temperaments (effortful control; EC) and the gut microbiome in typically developing children.
Maternal ratings of temperament were assessed in 77 toddlers 18 to 27 months of age (46.7% female, mean age = 23.14 months). Next-generation pyrosequencing of the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was used to classify children's gut microbial composition from fecal samples. EC included the following subcategories: cuddliness, attentional focusing, attentional shifting, inhibitory control, and low-intensity pleasure.
After adjusting for covariates, EC was positively associated with relative abundances of Akkermansia (Δ R2 = 0.117, b = 0.022, SE = 0.007, p = .002), with cuddliness (i.e., joy and ease of being held) driving the relation. Furthermore, attentional focusing was negatively associated with Alistipes (Δ R2 = 0.062, b = -0.011, SE = 0.005, p = .028). Permutational analysis of variance revealed no significant differences in community structure between high and low EC groups on the phylum level ( R2 = 0.00372, p = .745) or the genus level ( R2 = 0.01559, p = .276).
Findings suggest that certain microbes may be linked to prosocial behaviors used to regulate emotion in typically developing children. Further research is needed to test whether these observations replicate in larger samples.
新出现的研究将特定细菌的丰度与动物和成年人类的社会心理行为差异联系起来。然而，评估儿童心理微生物组关联的研究很少，现有的工作主要集中在自闭症人群上，因此不清楚这些联系是否也存在于正常发育的儿童中。本研究通过检查正常发育儿童的亲社会自我调节气质（努力控制；EC）与肠道微生物组之间的关联，填补了这一空白。
在 18 至 27 个月大的 77 名幼儿（46.7%为女性，平均年龄为 23.14 个月）的母亲中评估了气质评分。使用下一代焦磷酸测序技术对粪便样本中的 16S rRNA 基因 V1-V3 区进行分类，以确定儿童的肠道微生物组成。EC 包括以下亚类：拥抱、注意力集中、注意力转移、抑制控制和低强度愉悦。
在调整协变量后，EC 与 Akkermansia 的相对丰度呈正相关（Δ R2 = 0.117，b = 0.022，SE = 0.007，p =.002），拥抱（即快乐和易于被抱持）驱动了这种关系。此外，注意力集中与 Alistipes 呈负相关（Δ R2 = 0.062，b = -0.011，SE = 0.005，p =.028）。基于方差的排列分析未发现 EC 高低组之间在门水平（R2 = 0.00372，p =.745）或属水平（R2 = 0.01559，p =.276）上的群落结构有显著差异。
研究结果表明，某些微生物可能与用于调节正常发育儿童情绪的亲社会行为有关。需要进一步的研究来测试这些观察结果在更大的样本中是否可以复制。
