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High vagal tone and rapid extinction learning as potential transdiagnostic protective factors following childhood violence exposure.

ABSTRACT: Childhood exposure to violence is strongly associated with psychopathology. High resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is associated with lower levels of psychopathology in children exposed to violence. High RSA may help to protect against psychopathology by facilitating fear extinction learning, allowing more flexible autonomic responses to learned threat and safety cues. In this study, 165 youth (79 female, aged 9-17; 86 exposed to violence) completed assessments of violence exposure, RSA, and psychopathology, and a fear extinction learning task; 134 participants returned and completed psychopathology assessments 2 years later. Resting RSA moderated the longitudinal association of violence exposure with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and externalizing psychopathology, such that the association was weaker among youths with higher RSA. Higher skin conductance responses (SCR) during extinction learning to the threat cue (CS+) was associated with higher internalizing symptoms at follow-up and greater SCR to the safety cue (CS-) was associated with higher PTSD, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms, as well as the p-factor, controlling for baseline symptoms. Findings suggest that higher RSA may protect against emergence of psychopathology among children exposed to violence. Moreover, difficulty extinguishing learned threat responses and elevated autonomic responses to safety cues may be associated with risk for future psychopathology.

SUBMITTER: Susman ES

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8410650 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High vagal tone and rapid extinction learning as potential transdiagnostic protective factors following childhood violence exposure.

Susman Eli S ES Weissman David G DG Sheridan Margaret A MA McLaughlin Katie A KA

Developmental psychobiology 20210822 6

Childhood exposure to violence is strongly associated with psychopathology. High resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is associated with lower levels of psychopathology in children exposed to violence. High RSA may help to protect against psychopathology by facilitating fear extinction learning, allowing more flexible autonomic responses to learned threat and safety cues. In this study, 165 youth (79 female, aged 9-17; 86 exposed to violence) completed assessments of violence exposure, RSA ...[more]

PMID: 34423415

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Project description:ImportanceChildhood adverse experiences have been linked with long-term risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet the transgenerational associations between interparental behaviors and CVD remain poorly understood.ObjectivesTo explore the association between exposure to childhood interparental physical violence and the subsequent risk of CVD and to examine whether the association is modified by adult depressive symptoms.Design, setting, and participantsThis population-based cohort study included data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), an ongoing study recruiting individuals aged 45 years or older, dated between June 1, 2011, and December 31, 2020, with a follow-up duration of 9 years. The data were analyzed from October 1, 2023, to May 10, 2024.ExposuresAn early life exposure questionnaire with information on the frequency of witnessing interparental physical violence was administered. Depressive symptoms were assessed via the validated 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.Main outcomes and measuresThe outcome measures included self-reported physician-diagnosed heart disease (defined as myocardial infarction, angina, coronary heart disease, heart failure, or other heart problems) and stroke. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models using attained age as the time scale were conducted.ResultsOf 10 424 participants, the mean (SD) age was 58.1 (9.0) years, 5332 (51.2%) were female, and 872 (8.4%) reported exposure to interparental physical violence. Exposure to childhood interparental physical violence was associated with increased risks of adult-onset CVD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.36; 95% CI, 1.20-1.55), heart disease (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.17-1.57), and stroke (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.03-1.61). Participants exposed to childhood interparental physical violence had a greater prevalence of depressive symptoms (2371 of 9335 participants [25.4%]), which mediated 11.0% of the association between childhood interparental physical violence and CVD (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.45).Conclusions and relevanceIn this cohort study, childhood exposure to interparental physical violence was associated with a higher risk of adult-onset CVD, which was partially mediated by adult depressive symptoms. The findings emphasize the need for comprehensive strategies and policy efforts that address the social determinants of interparental violence and provide household education opportunities.

Project description:ImportanceAdverse childhood experiences are a public health issue with negative sequelae that persist throughout life. Current theories suggest that adverse childhood experiences reflect underlying dimensions (eg, violence exposure and social deprivation) with distinct neural mechanisms; however, research findings have been inconsistent, likely owing to variability in how the environment interacts with the brain.ObjectiveTo examine whether dimensional exposure to childhood adversity is associated with person-specific patterns in adolescent resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), defined as synchronized activity across brain regions when not engaged in a task.Design, setting, and participantsA sparse network approach in a large sample with substantial representation of understudied, underserved African American youth was used to conduct an observational, population-based longitudinal cohort study. A total of 183 adolescents aged 15 to 17 years from Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and Chicago, Illinois, who participated in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were eligible for inclusion. Environmental data from birth to adolescence were collected via telephone and in-person interviews, and neuroimaging data collected at a university lab. The study was conducted from February 1, 1998, to April 26, 2017, and data analysis was performed from January 3, 2019, to May 22, 2020.ExposuresComposite variables representing violence exposure and social deprivation created from primary caregiver reports on children at ages 3, 5, and 9 years.Main outcomes and measuresResting-state functional connectivity person-specific network metrics (data-driven subgroup membership, density, and node degree) focused on connectivity among a priori regions of interest in 2 resting-state networks (salience network and default mode) assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsOf the 183 eligible adolescents, 175 individuals (98 girls [56%]) were included in the analysis; mean (SD) age was 15.88 (0.53) years and 127 participants (73%) were African American. Adolescents with high violence exposure were 3.06 times more likely (95% CI, 1.17-8.92) to be in a subgroup characterized by high heterogeneity (few shared connections) and low network density (sparsity). Childhood violence exposure, but not social deprivation, was associated with reduced rsFC density (β = -0.25; 95% CI, -0.41 to -0.05; P = .005), with fewer salience network connections (β = -0.26; 95% CI, -0.43 to -0.08; P = .005) and salience network-default mode connections (β = -0.20; 95% CI, -0.38 to -0.03; P = .02). Violence exposure was associated with node degree of right anterior insula (β = -0.29; 95% CI, -0.47 to -0.12; P = .001) and left inferior parietal lobule (β = -0.26; 95% CI, -0.44 to -0.09; P = .003).Conclusions and relevanceThe findings of this study suggest that childhood violence exposure is associated with adolescent neural network sparsity. A community-detection algorithm, blinded to child adversity, grouped youth exposed to heightened violence based only on patterns of rsFC. The findings may have implications for understanding how dimensions of adverse childhood experiences impact individualized neural development.

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High vagal tone and rapid extinction learning as potential transdiagnostic protective factors following childhood violence exposure.

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High vagal tone and rapid extinction learning as potential transdiagnostic protective factors following childhood violence exposure.

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