Early life stress is associated with default system integrity and emotionality during infancy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Extensive animal research has demonstrated the vulnerability of the brain to early life stress (ELS) with consequences for emotional development and mental health. However, the influence of moderate and common forms of stress on early human brain development is less well-understood and precisely characterized. To date, most work has focused on severe forms of stress, and/or on brain functioning years after stress exposure.

Methods

In this report we focused on conflict between parents (interparental conflict), a common and relatively moderate form of ELS that is highly relevant for children's mental health outcomes. We used resting state functional connectivity MRI to examine the coordinated functioning of the infant brain (N = 23; 6-12-months-of-age) in the contex

SUBMITTER: Graham AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4580514 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature