Pass it on? The neural responses to rejection in the context of a family study on maltreatment

Abstract

Rejection by parents is an important aspect of child maltreatment. Altered neural responses to social rejection have been observed in maltreated individuals. The current study is the first to examine the impact of experienced and perpetrated abuse and neglect on neural responses to social exclusion by strangers versus family using a multigenerational family design, including 144 participants. The role of neural reactivity to social exclusion in the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment was also examined. Exclusion by strangers was especially associated with increased activation in the left insula, while exclusion by a family member was mainly associated with increased activation in the ACC. Neural reactivity to social exclusion by strangers in the insula, ACC and dmPFC, was associated with experienced maltreatment but not with perpetrated maltreatment. In abusive parents, altered neural reactivity during exclusion was found in other brain areas, indicating different neural correlates of experienced and perpetrated maltreatment. Hence, no mechanisms could be identified that are involved in the transmission of maltreatment. Hypersensitivity to social rejection by strangers in neglected individuals underscores the importance to distinguish between effects of abuse and neglect and suggests that the impact of experiencing rejection and maltreatment by your own parents extends beyond the family context.

Intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment using a multi-informant multi-generation family design

“…buccal samples were collected. Eligible participants were also invited for a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session [40]. Questionnaires on child maltreatment were completed during the first visit.…”

A Systematic Review of the Biological Correlates and Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment and Adverse Childhood Experiences

“…With respect to neurobiological structures, CM and a higher number of ACEs were associated with elevated levels of functional activity and structural changes in several neurological structures of the limbic system (Rodman et al, 2019). Studies also reported functional reductions in cortical structures involved in the regulation of emotions and cognition (van den Berg et al, 2018). Findings indicated decreased connectivity between limbic and cortical regions of the brain (Fonzo et al, 2013), showing that cortical areas of the brain, which regulate emotional response in limbic areas, were downregulated in individuals who experienced CM and ACEs.…”

Gray matter matters: The structure of the socially-anxious brain

“…Furthermore, the analyses by Zhang et al [6] did not reveal associations between characteristics of brain structure and symptoms, while several other studies have reported such symptombrain correlations, as well as on changes in brain structure related to treatment [2,7]. Next, while the SAD-related alterations reported by Zhang et al are restricted to two brain areas, other work in the field have revealed far more extended changes in brain structure [2,4,5,8]. These inconsistent findings stress the need for replication studies.…”

“…In the last decade, several neuroimaging studies have explored differences in brain structure between patients with SAD and healthy control participants, for example by employing a megaanalytical approach on an international multi-center dataset of MRI data [3]. In addition, qualitative reviews and quantitative meta-analyses, based on the results of patient-control studies with relatively small sample sizes, have shed light on changes in gray matter volume in SAD [4,5]. These studies point at differences in brain structure in various subcortical (for example, putamen and thalamus) and cortical brain regions (including prefrontal areas, regions of the parietal cortex and temporal areas), but the results are, until now, heterogeneous, probably due to methodological differences with respect to the analyses, as well as to variations in clinical characteristics like psychiatric comorbidity and treatment (either by pharmacological drugs or cognitive behavioral therapy).…”