Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (Grey, Purcell, Buford, Mrug, Knight); Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena, CA (Schuster); RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA (Elliott); UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, Houston (Emery).
Am J Psychiatry. 2024 Dec 1;181(12):1112-1126. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20220884. Epub 2024 Oct 30.
Discrimination exposure has a detrimental impact on mental health, increasing the risk of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. The impact discrimination exposure has on mental health is likely mediated by neural processes associated with emotion expression and regulation. However, the specific neural processes that mediate the relationship between discrimination exposure and mental health remain to be determined. The present study investigated the relationship adolescent discrimination exposure has with stress-elicited brain activity and mental health symptoms in young adulthood.
A total of 301 participants completed the Montreal Imaging Stress Task while functional MRI data were collected. Discrimination exposure was measured four times from ages 11 to 19, and stress-elicited brain activity and psychological distress (depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress) were assessed in young adulthood (age 20).
Stress-elicited dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and hippocampal activity varied with discrimination exposure. Activity within these brain regions varied with the cumulative amount and trajectory of discrimination exposure across adolescence (initial exposure, change in exposure, and acceleration of exposure). Depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms varied with discrimination exposure. Stress-elicited activity within the dorsolateral PFC and the IPL statistically mediated the relationship between discrimination exposure and psychological distress.
The findings suggest that adolescent discrimination exposure may alter the neural response to future stressors (i.e., within regions associated with emotion expression and regulation), which may in turn modify susceptibility and resilience to psychological distress. Thus, differences in stress-elicited neural reactivity may represent an important neurobiological mechanism underlying discrimination-related mental health disparities.
歧视暴露对心理健康有不利影响，增加抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激的风险。歧视暴露对心理健康的影响可能是通过与情绪表达和调节相关的神经过程介导的。然而，介导歧视暴露与心理健康之间关系的确切神经过程仍有待确定。本研究调查了青少年歧视暴露与年轻人成年期应激引起的大脑活动和心理健康症状之间的关系。
共有 301 名参与者在完成蒙特利尔成像应激任务时收集了功能磁共振成像数据。从 11 岁到 19 岁，四次测量了歧视暴露情况，在年轻人成年期（20 岁）评估了应激引起的大脑活动和心理困扰（抑郁、焦虑、创伤后应激）。
应激引起的背外侧和背内侧前额叶皮层（PFC）、下顶叶（IPL）和海马体活动随歧视暴露而变化。这些大脑区域的活动随青春期（初始暴露、暴露变化和暴露加速）期间歧视暴露的累积量和轨迹而变化。抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激症状随歧视暴露而变化。背外侧 PFC 和 IPL 中的应激引起的活动在歧视暴露与心理困扰之间存在统计学中介关系。
研究结果表明，青少年歧视暴露可能改变对未来应激源的神经反应（即，与情绪表达和调节相关的区域），这可能反过来改变对心理困扰的易感性和恢复力。因此，应激引起的神经反应性差异可能是歧视相关心理健康差异的一个重要神经生物学机制。
