Physical and mental health of children with substantiated sexual abuse: Gender comparisons from a matched-control cohort study

Daigneault, Isabelle; Vézina-Gagnon, Pascale; Bourgeois, Catherine; Esposito, Thomas J.; Hébert, Martine

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.038

Cited by 39 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Future studies will assess network connectivity in UPS female mice. These studies will determine whether UPS causes sex-specific hyperconnectivity in males and may help clarify conflicting results in humans about the moderating effects of sex on frontolimbic connectivity (Table S1 ) and risk for psychopathology in individuals exposed to childhood asdersity 8 – 14 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is currently unclear how multiple adverse events early in life synergize to affect such a broad clinical presentation and whether different types of childhood maltreatment (e.g., sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, and emotional abuse) lead to different developmental and behavioral consequences 2 , 7 . Moreover, conflicting findings are found in the literature regarding the ability of sex to modify the consequences of early-life stress (ELS), with some reports suggesting that childhood adversity causes different outcomes in men and women 8 – 11 while others find similar outcomes regardless of sex 12 – 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A major obstacle in clarifying some of these clinical observations is the over reliance on subjective reports about sensitive and personal information usually obtained by a complete stranger 8 , 9 , 15 . In this regard, the recent use of functional imaging provides an important and promising objective tool to study the effects of childhood adversity on brain function and connectivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Amygdala hyper-connectivity in a mouse model of unpredictable early life stress

Johnson¹,

Delpech²,

Thompson³

et al. 2018

Transl Psychiatry

102

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Childhood maltreatment is associated with a wide range of psychopathologies including anxiety that emerge in childhood and in many cases persist in adulthood. Increased amygdala activation in response to threat and abnormal amygdala connectivity with frontolimbic brain regions, such as the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, are some of the most consistent findings seen in individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment. The underlying mechanisms responsible for these changes are difficult to study in humans but can be elucidated using animal models of early-life stress. Such studies are especially powerful in the mouse where precise control of the genetic background and the stress paradigm can be coupled with resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) to map abnormal connectivity in circuits that regulate anxiety. To address this issue we first compared the effects of two models of early-life stress, limited bedding (LB) and unpredictable postnatal stress (UPS), on anxiety-like behavior in juvenile and adult mice. We found that UPS, but not LB, causes a robust increase in anxiety in juvenile and adult male mice. Next, we used rsfMRI to compare frontolimbic connectivity in control and UPS adult male mice. We found increased amygdala–prefrontal cortex and amygdala–hippocampus connectivity in UPS. The strength of the amygdala–hippocampal and amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity was highly correlated with anxiety-like behavior in the open-field test and elevated plus maze. These findings are the first to link hyperconnectivity in frontolimbic circuits and increased anxiety in a mouse model of early-life stress, allowing for more mechanistic understanding of parallel findings in humans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Amygdala hyper-connectivity in a mouse model of unpredictable early life stress

Johnson¹,

Delpech²,

Thompson³

et al. 2018

Transl Psychiatry

102

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“…A study of 222 men and 660 women that had been victims of child sexual abuse found that girls were more likely (1.2-2.2 times) than boys to seek medical care because of physical health problems, such as digestive, locomotor and genitourinary symptoms. The authors describe that child sexual abuse is responsible for generating costs for the health system and highlights the need for qualified services to treat physical and mental health problems of sexually abused girls and boys 24 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and generation perspectives in the narratives of sexually abused women in childhood

Fornari

Sakata-So

Egry

et al. 2018

Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem

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Objective:to analyze the narratives of sexually abused women in childhood, identifying issues related to gender and generation. Method:descriptive research with a qualitative approach, based on 214 reports selected from the Brazilian campaign #primeiroassedio (first harassment), which took place on Twitter social network, collected from a structured instrument. Thematic content analysis was used. Results:girls were the main victims of sexual abuse. The perpetrators were mostly male and people they knew. Five categories emerged from the narratives: Sexual abuse in the aggressors’ discourse; The child as the object of sexual pleasure; Violated childhood; Victims’ guilty feelings; and Repercussions of sexual abuse experienced in childhood. Conclusion:sexual abuse often occurs in the family context and, even if sometimes veiled, the submission of girls’ power in gender relations and of children in generation relationships is evident. Analyzing sexual abuse under the categories of gender and generation contributes to an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon, directing practices more effectively to their coping.

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“…In fact, those who are exposed to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) at different developmental periods exhibit different outcomes. For example, children in the preschool period who are exposed to sexual abuse report many physical health problems, such as somatic complaints and sleep problems, and report more medical consultations and hospitalisations (Daigneault et al, ; Friedrich and Schafer, ; Hébert et al, ). Furthermore, these children also report many psychological consequences, such as emotion regulation deficits, dissociation symptoms and insecure attachment (Bernier et al, ; Fresno et al, ; Langevin et al, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Brain Development: A Discussion of Associated Structural Changes and Negative Psychological Outcomes

Edwards

2018

Child Abuse Review

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The effects of traumatic exposure have been researched for many years and studies have shown that the parts of the brain affected by sexually traumatic experiences in childhood are also linked to many physical and psychological problems, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, somatic complaints and suicide. Neuroimaging studies have provided a breadth of evidence that childhood sexual abuse is related to structural changes in the brain. Taken together, childhood sexual abuse affects brain development, leading to differences in brain anatomy and functioning that have lifelong consequences for mental health. Several limitations of neuroimaging research on childhood sexual abuse are discussed, including a lack of refined and sensitive neuroimaging measures and problems interpreting results of structural imaged subjects with associated psychiatric conditions. Future, large‐scale studies are warranted to examine the type and severity of the sexual abuse and how each of the levels of childhood sexual abuse contributes to structural and functional changes. Furthermore, future studies are needed to control for comorbid psychiatric conditions in order to disentangle the effects of childhood sexual abuse from psychiatric conditions that damage brain development. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Childhood sexual abuse is linked to observable structural changes in the brain. These structural changes in the brain are associated with a myriad number of negative psychological effects. Research is limited in elucidating the role of childhood sexual abuse on brain development, as the bulk of the research has focused only broadly on child maltreatment.

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Physical and mental health of children with substantiated sexual abuse: Gender comparisons from a matched-control cohort study

Cited by 39 publications

References 55 publications

Amygdala hyper-connectivity in a mouse model of unpredictable early life stress

Amygdala hyper-connectivity in a mouse model of unpredictable early life stress

Gender and generation perspectives in the narratives of sexually abused women in childhood

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Brain Development: A Discussion of Associated Structural Changes and Negative Psychological Outcomes

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