Laney Sophia, Nooner Kate
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), 601 South College Rd, Box 5612, Wilmington, NC, 28403-5612, USA.
Discov Ment Health. 2025 May 8;5(1):72. doi: 10.1007/s44192-025-00202-9.
Research suggests that associated changes in brain function may underlie the vulnerabilities for psychopathology following adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In addition to the ACEs themselves, the development of trauma symptoms following ACEs may also contribute to psychopathology. The present study investigates how exposure to certain ACEs, specifically child maltreatment, and trauma symptoms both individually and combined, influence the presence of psychopathology in a sample of adolescents. Participants were 52 adolescents between the ages of 12-14 years recruited from New Hanover County Health and Human Services (NHC-HHS). Further, this study seeks to identify functional brain changes with electroencephalography (EEG) that may impact psychopathology in youth. While child maltreatment and trauma symptoms were not associated, results indicated that frontal and central EEG alpha power, but not alpha asymmetry, were associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing psychopathology in adolescents, with higher alpha power reflecting lower cortical activation. The results of this study suggest that certain changes in patterns of neural activity may be candidates for psychopathology prevention in adolescents.
研究表明，大脑功能的相关变化可能是童年不良经历（ACEs）后出现精神病理学易感性的基础。除了ACEs本身之外，ACEs后创伤症状的发展也可能导致精神病理学。本研究调查了接触某些ACEs，特别是儿童虐待，以及创伤症状单独和共同出现时，如何影响青少年样本中精神病理学的存在。参与者是从新汉诺威县卫生与公众服务部（NHC-HHS）招募的52名12至14岁的青少年。此外，本研究旨在通过脑电图（EEG）识别可能影响青少年精神病理学的大脑功能变化。虽然儿童虐待与创伤症状没有关联，但结果表明，额叶和中央EEG阿尔法波功率，而非阿尔法波不对称性，与青少年出现精神病理学的可能性增加有关，较高的阿尔法波功率反映出较低的皮质激活。本研究结果表明，神经活动模式的某些变化可能是青少年精神病理学预防的候选因素。
