Xerxa Yllza, Lamballais Sander, Muetzel Ryan L, Ikram Mohammad Arfan, Tiemeier Henning
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, the Netherlands
The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 CN Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
J Neurosci. 2024 Dec 11;44(50):e2156232024. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2156-23.2024.
Hostility often co-occurs in parents and associates with increased aggression and inattention problems in children. In this population-based cohort of 484 mother-father-child neuroimaging trios, we investigated the degree to which associations of prenatal and childhood parental hostility would be associated with maternal, paternal, and child brain structural differences. Also, we examined whether hippocampal volumes of the parents or child mediate the association of prenatal parental hostility with child externalizing behaviors. Maternal and paternal hostility was assessed with the hostility subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory at three time points: prenatally at 30 weeks' gestation and when the child was 3 and 10 years old. During adolescence assessment wave (age 14), maternal, paternal, and offspring assessment included a magnetic resonance imaging. Child externalizing problems were assessed with Youth Self-Report Child Behavior Checklist. Our findings suggest that maternal and paternal hostility were each associated with smaller gray matter, white matter, and hippocampal volumes of their own and their partner's brain. Prenatal maternal but not paternal hostility was associated with smaller total gray matter, white matter, and hippocampal volumes in the offspring. The child's hippocampal volumes partially mediated the associations of prenatal parental hostility (latent construct) with adolescent externalizing behavior, even after adjusting for prior child externalizing problems. Moreover, parental psychopathology may have long-lasting neurodevelopmental correlates in children that underlie the intergenerational transmission of behavioral problems. The behavior of family members results from a system of interdependent dyadic relationships over time that associate with specific brain structural differences.
敌意情绪在父母中常常同时出现，并且与儿童攻击性增强和注意力不集中问题相关联。在这个基于人群的包含484个母婴父神经影像三人组的队列研究中，我们调查了产前和童年期父母敌意情绪的关联与母亲、父亲及儿童脑结构差异的相关程度。此外，我们还研究了父母或儿童的海马体体积是否介导了产前父母敌意情绪与儿童外化行为之间的关联。在三个时间点使用简明症状量表的敌意分量表对母亲和父亲的敌意情绪进行评估：产前妊娠30周时，以及孩子3岁和10岁时。在青少年评估阶段（14岁），对母亲、父亲和后代进行磁共振成像检查。使用青少年自我报告儿童行为清单评估儿童的外化问题。我们的研究结果表明，母亲和父亲的敌意情绪分别与他们自己及伴侣大脑中较小的灰质、白质和海马体体积相关。产前母亲而非父亲的敌意情绪与后代较小的总灰质、白质和海马体体积相关。即使在调整了先前的儿童外化问题后，儿童的海马体体积部分介导了产前父母敌意情绪（潜在结构）与青少年外化行为之间的关联。此外，父母的精神病理学可能在儿童中具有长期的神经发育相关性，这是行为问题代际传递的基础。家庭成员的行为源于随着时间推移相互依赖的二元关系系统，这与特定的脑结构差异相关。
