Concordance in parent and offspring cortico-basal ganglia white matter connectivity varies by parental history of major depressive disorder and early parental care

Abstract

Social behavior is transmitted cross-generationally through coordinated behavior within attachment bonds. Parental depression and poor parental care are major risks for disruptions of such coordination and are associated with offspring’s psychopathology and interpersonal dysfunction. Given the key role of the cortico-basal ganglia/(CBG) circuits in social communication, we examined similarities (concordance) of parent-offspring CBG white-matter/(WM) connections and how parental history of major depressive disorder/(MDD) and early parental care moderate these similarities. We imaged 44 parent-offspring dyads and investigated WM connections between basal-ganglia seeds and selected regions in temporal cortex using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. We found significant concordance in parent-offspring strength of CBG WM connections, moderated by parental lifetime-MDD and care. Results showed diminished neural concordance among dyads with a depressed parent, and that better parental care predicted greater concordance, which also provided a protective buffer against attenuated concordance among dyads with a depressed parent. Our findings provide the first neurobiological evidence of concordance between parents-offspring in WM tracts, and that concordance is diminished in families where parents have lifetime-MDD. This disruption may be a risk factor for intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. Findings emphasize the long-term role of early caregiving in shaping the neural concordance among at-risk and affected dyads.

Major depression, temperament, and social support as psychosocial mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of parenting styles

“…Our finding, in concert with those of previous studies, confirms the role of social support in promoting physical and psychological health and overall wellbeing to the individual and offspring across the life span (Pierce et al, 1996). In addition, this finding is consistent with previous animal and human studies highlighting the social buffering effect across the life span (Gunnar & Hostinar, 2015) and showing that social attachments, including pair bonding, friendship, and family bonds, have been found to moderate both genetic and environmental vulnerabilities and confer resilience to stress and adversity (Abraham et al, 2020;Feldman, 2020;Levy & Feldman, 2019;Schury et al, 2017;Vakrat, Apter-Levy, & Feldman, 2018).…”

Mother-child similarity in brain morphology: A comparison of structural characteristics of the brain’s reading network

“…Intergenerational neuroimaging combines successful features of existing research designs (e.g., family studies, concordance models) to further knowledge of mechanisms promoting brain development. The first studies directly investigating structural and functional brain similarity in parent-child dyads mostly focused on affective ( Yamagata et al, 2016 , Foland-Ross et al, 2015 , Abraham et al, 2020 , Colich et al, 2017 , Wang et al, 2018 ) or cognitive trait transmission ( Vandermosten et al, 2020 , Takagi et al, 2021 ). For example, Foland-Ross and colleagues reported on structural brain similarity by means of cortical thickness in mother-child dyads with and without a history of depression ( Foland-Ross et al, 2015 ).…”

Early maternal and paternal caregiving moderates the links between preschoolers' reactivity and regulation and maturation of the HPA‐immune axis

“…Research has shown that OT administration increased social affiliation and reduced CT levels (Brown et al., 2016; Ditzen et al., 2009; Meinlschmidt & Heim, 2007), and buffered CT responses to stress in adults with impaired emotion regulation abilities (Quirin et al., 2011). Parent‐child synchrony and the OT system are shaped during the transition to parenthood and carry long‐term effects on child's brain, behavior, and psychopathology (Abraham et al., 2020), hence are defined as markers of resilience and are related to child's greater adaptation in the context of adversity (Feldman, 2020).…”