Chiang Jessica J, Lam Phoebe H, Cichocki Anna, Jenkins Lisanne M, Wang Lei, Nusslock Robin, Miller Gregory E
Department of Psychology, Georgetown University.
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University.
Health Psychol. 2025 May 5. doi: 10.1037/hea0001508.
Youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are disproportionately at risk for developing cardiometabolic diseases. Underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Therefore, we examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with structural variations in regions that underlie emotion processing and executive control, and whether those variations were in turn associated with cardiometabolic risk during adolescence. Primary areas of interest included the dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and secondary areas included the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus in sensitivity analyses.
Participants were 277 racially and ethnically diverse adolescents ( = 13.92, 63% female, 73% youth of color) assessed in eighth grade (Time 1) and again 2 years later (Time 2). Caregivers' educational attainment and household income were used to index family socioeconomic status. Cardiometabolic risk was based on a composite score of signs of metabolic syndrome (i.e., waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose), and structural brain imaging data characterized brain volumes.
Lower parent education was associated with smaller dlPFC volume, lateral OFC volume, and cardiometabolic risk at Time 1. Additionally, lower parent education and smaller dlPFC volume predicted greater cardiometabolic risk 2 years later at Time 2. Path analyses indicated that smaller dlPFC volume accounted for the association between parent education and cardiometabolic risk cross-sectionally and longitudinally 2 years later, but not for prospective changes in cardiometabolic risk.
Findings suggest that structural variation in the dlPFC may be a pathway connecting parent education to later cardiometabolic health problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
社会经济条件不利家庭的青少年患心脏代谢疾病的风险不成比例地更高。然而，其潜在机制仍不清楚。因此，我们研究了社会经济不利状况是否与情绪处理和执行控制相关脑区的结构变化有关，以及这些变化是否反过来与青少年时期的心脏代谢风险相关。主要关注区域包括背外侧前额叶（dlPFC）和眶额叶皮质（OFC），敏感性分析中的次要区域包括腹外侧前额叶皮质、杏仁核和海马体。
参与者为277名种族和民族多样的青少年（平均年龄 = 13.92岁，63%为女性，73%为有色人种青少年），在八年级时（时间1）进行评估，两年后（时间2）再次评估。用照顾者的教育程度和家庭收入来衡量家庭社会经济地位。心脏代谢风险基于代谢综合征体征（即腰围、血压、胆固醇、甘油三酯、血糖）的综合评分，脑结构成像数据用于表征脑容量。
在时间1时，父母教育程度较低与较小的dlPFC体积、外侧OFC体积以及心脏代谢风险相关。此外，父母教育程度较低和较小的dlPFC体积预测了两年后的时间2时更高的心脏代谢风险。路径分析表明，较小的dlPFC体积在横断面和两年后的纵向分析中解释了父母教育程度与心脏代谢风险之间的关联，但不能解释心脏代谢风险的前瞻性变化。
研究结果表明，dlPFC的结构变化可能是连接父母教育与后期心脏代谢健康问题的一条途径。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
