Wang Xingzhen, Wang Jiaojian, Lin Zhenglong, Yang Yang, Xu Min
School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
State Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
Neurobiol Stress. 2025 May 1;36:100730. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2025.100730. eCollection 2025 May.
Child maltreatment profoundly impacts mental health and cognitive abilities, with effects varying according to the type of maltreatment. Parental verbal abuse (PVA) is a pervasive yet often overlooked form of child maltreatment linked to significant changes in brain structures crucial for language. This study investigated the impact of PVA on behavior, brain structure, and function related to language, examining how these effects may differ between females and males.
We recruited 142 adults who experienced varying levels of PVA during childhood. Participants completed questionnaires to assess their exposure to PVA, nonverbal abuse and neglect, and underwent cognitive tests to evaluate their language-related skills. We employed diffusion tensor imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore how PVA affect structural characteristics of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and brain activation patterns during a sentence comprehension task.
Hierarchical regressions revealed sex-dependent effects of PVA on the AF lateralization. In females, PVA exposure was associated with decreased leftward lateralization of the AF's anterior segment and reduced frontal lateralization during sentence comprehension. Conversely, in males, PVA was related to increased leftward lateralization of the same segment, but this structural change did not correspond with significant effects on functional lateralization or language performance.
This study highlights the susceptibility of AF's anterior segment and frontal activation to PVA, revealing distinct patterns between females and males. The findings underscore the necessity for future research to address these sex differences and develop targeted interventions to meet the distinct challenges that females and males may face.
儿童虐待对心理健康和认知能力有深远影响，其影响因虐待类型而异。父母言语虐待（PVA）是一种普遍存在但常被忽视的儿童虐待形式，与对语言至关重要的大脑结构的显著变化有关。本研究调查了PVA对与语言相关的行为、脑结构和功能的影响，探讨了这些影响在女性和男性之间可能存在的差异。
我们招募了142名在童年时期经历过不同程度PVA的成年人。参与者完成问卷以评估他们遭受PVA、非言语虐待和忽视的情况，并接受认知测试以评估他们与语言相关的技能。我们采用扩散张量成像和功能磁共振成像来探究PVA如何影响弓状束（AF）的结构特征以及句子理解任务期间的大脑激活模式。
分层回归显示PVA对AF偏侧化存在性别依赖性影响。在女性中，暴露于PVA与句子理解过程中AF前段向左偏侧化减少以及额叶偏侧化降低有关。相反，在男性中，PVA与同一节段向左偏侧化增加有关，但这种结构变化并未对功能偏侧化或语言表现产生显著影响。
本研究强调了AF前段和额叶激活对PVA的易感性，揭示了女性和男性之间的不同模式。这些发现强调了未来研究应对这些性别差异并制定针对性干预措施以应对女性和男性可能面临的独特挑战的必要性。
