Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin -Madison, Madison, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jul 24;14(1):17034. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-66830-3.
Racism is an insidious problem with far-reaching effects on the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The pervasive negative impact of racism on mental health is well documented. However, less is known about the potential downstream impacts of maternal experiences of racism on offspring neurodevelopment. This study sought to examine evidence for a biological pathway of intergenerational transmission of racism-related trauma. This study examined the effects of self-reported maternal experiences of racism on resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in n = 25 neonates (13 female, 12 male) birthed by BIPOC mothers. Amygdala and hippocampus are brain regions involved in fear, memory, and anxiety, and are central nodes in brain networks associated with trauma-related change. We used average scores on the Experiences of Racism Scale as a continuous, voxel-wise regressor in seed-based, whole-brain connectivity analysis of anatomically defined amygdala and hippocampus seed regions of interest. All analyses controlled for infant sex and gestational age at the 2-week scanning session. More maternal racism-related experiences were associated with (1) stronger right amygdala rsFC with visual cortex and thalamus; and (2) stronger hippocampus rsFC with visual cortex and a temporo-parietal network, in neonates. The results of this research have implications for understanding how maternal experiences of racism may alter neurodevelopment, and for related social policy.
种族主义是一个潜伏的问题，对黑人和有色人种（BIPOC）的生活有着深远的影响。种族主义对心理健康的普遍负面影响已有充分记录。然而，人们对母亲经历种族主义对后代神经发育的潜在下游影响知之甚少。这项研究旨在探讨种族主义相关创伤代际传递的生物学途径的证据。本研究检查了自我报告的母亲经历种族主义对 25 名新生儿（13 名女性，12 名男性）静息状态功能连接（rsFC）的影响，这些新生儿由 BIPOC 母亲分娩。杏仁核和海马体是与恐惧、记忆和焦虑相关的大脑区域，是与创伤相关变化相关的大脑网络的核心节点。我们使用种族主义经历量表的平均得分作为连续的体素，在基于种子的全脑连接分析中，对解剖定义的杏仁核和海马体种子感兴趣区域进行分析。所有分析均控制了婴儿性别和 2 周扫描时的胎龄。母亲种族主义相关经历越多，与（1）右侧杏仁核与视觉皮层和丘脑的 rsFC 越强；（2）海马体与视觉皮层和颞顶网络的 rsFC 越强。这项研究的结果对于理解母亲经历种族主义如何改变神经发育以及相关社会政策具有重要意义。
