Sex differences in socioemotional functioning, attentional bias, and gray matter volume in maltreated children: A multilevel investigation
Sex differences in socioemotional functioning, attentional bias, and gray matter volume in maltreated children: A multilevel investigation
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DOI：
10.1017/s0954579415000966
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发表时间：
2015-11-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
McCrory, Eamon J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kelly, Philip A.;Viding, Essi;McCrory, Eamon J.
虽然已知虐待会影响社会和情感功能、威胁处理和神经结构，但性别对这些结果的潜在二态性影响仍然相对不足。我们在 10 至 14 岁儿童的大型社区样本 (n = 122) 中调查了这些领域的性别差异，其中包括 62 名有经证实的虐待经历的儿童和 60 名匹配的未受虐待同龄人。与未受虐待的对照组相比，受虐待的组表现出较差的社交和情感功能（更多的同伴问题和更高的情绪反应性）。在认知上，他们在视觉点探测任务中表现出一种注意回避威胁的模式。在这些领域的男性和女性中观察到类似的模式。研究发现，受虐待组的灰质体积减少是内侧眶额皮质、双侧颞叶中叶和双侧缘上回的特征；仅在边缘上回观察到性别差异。此外，在中央后回发现虐待暴露与性之间存在不协调的相互作用。最后，对威胁的注意回避介导了虐待和情绪反应之间的关系，内侧眶额皮层灰质体积介导了虐待和同伴功能之间的关系。在不同性别中观察到类似的中介模式。这项研究强调了在研究儿童虐待造成的“潜在脆弱性”时结合多层次分析的实用性，并得出了关于受虐待儿童长期结果中性别差异的神经基础的初步发现。
While maltreatment is known to impact social and emotional functioning, threat processing, and neural structure, the potentially dimorphic influence of sex on these outcomes remains relatively understudied. We investigated sex differences across these domains in a large community sample of children aged 10 to 14 years (n = 122) comprising 62 children with verified maltreatment experience and 60 well-matched nonmaltreated peers. The maltreated group relative to the nonmaltreated comparison group exhibited poorer social and emotional functioning (more peer problems and heightened emotional reactivity). Cognitively, they displayed a pattern of attentional avoidance of threat in a visual dot-probe task. Similar patterns were observed in males and females in these domains. Reduced gray matter volume was found to characterize the maltreated group in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, bilateral middle temporal lobes, and bilateral supramarginal gyrus; sex differences were observed only in the supramarginal gyrus. In addition, a disordinal interaction between maltreatment exposure and sex was found in the postcentral gyrus. Finally, attentional avoidance to threat mediated the relationship between maltreatment and emotional reactivity, and medial orbitofrontal cortex gray matter volume mediated the relationship between maltreatment and peer functioning. Similar mediation patterns were observed across sexes. This study highlights the utility of combining multiple levels of analysis when studying the "latent vulnerability" engendered by childhood maltreatment and yields tentative findings regarding a neural basis of sex differences in long-term outcomes for maltreated children.