Negative Parent Representations Mediate Effects of Emotional Maltreatment on Neural Responses to Social Exclusion

• In Event: Taking on Cumulative Stress Models: Neuroimaging Studies from Dimensional/ Interpersonal Neurodevelopmental Processing Perspectives on Adversity

Abstract

Maltreatment partly exerts its pathological influence via neurocognitive alterations related to social functioning (McCrory et al., 2022). Likewise, maltreatment-related interpersonal sequelae may originate from negative expectancies that children carry forward from attachment relationships (Shields et al., 2001). However, few or no neuroimaging studies examine neural networks underpinning attachment representations following maltreatment while considering relative influences of abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment (Sheridan & McLaughlin, 2014; White et al., 2020). The current fMRI study examines longitudinal effects of attachment representations on neural correlates of social exclusion among maltreated youth (n=51) and nonmaltreated controls (n=37), drawn from a large-scale sample and matched for age, gender, socio-economic status, and IQ. Following assessments of story-completion narratives (Mage_T1 = 7.83 years) and the Maltreatment Classification System (MCS; Mage_T2 = 8.86 years), a neuroimaging assessment (Mage_T3 = 14.52 years) was conducted using a 3T MRI scanner. Dimensions of abuse, neglect, and emotional maltreatment were estimated from MCS codings of chronicity, severity and subtype using confirmatory factor-analysis (see Schulz et al., 2022). Trained and reliable coders rated four distress-related story-completions for negative parent representations using the MacArthur Narrative Coding Manual. Neuroimaging data were collected during an event-related version of Cyberball with peers who first included, then excluded participants from the game. Applying corrections for family-wise error at the voxel-level and Bonferroni adjustments for the number of clusters identified at the whole-brain level, we focused on significant activation differences for contrasts between not receiving the ball during exclusion (“rejection”) and receiving the ball during inclusion (“acceptance”). Similar to Toth et al., (1997), maltreated children showed more negative parent representations than nonmaltreated controls, Welch’s F (1, 82.432) = 6.59, p = .012. In a regression analysis within maltreated youth, negative parent representations were predicted by emotional maltreatment (beta = .349, p=.011), but not neglect (beta = .049, p=.714) or abuse dimensions (beta = .253, p=.066). At the neural level, maltreatment showed no effects, but negative parent representations were associated with activations in the left precuneus/ posterior cingulate cortex (PRC/ PCC; r (PRC/PCC) = .387, p < .001), superior temporal gyrus (STG; r(STG) = .365, p < .001), and superior frontal gyrus (SFG; r (SFG) = .339, p = .001; Figure 1) in the full sample. Within-group analyses indicated that the latter effects also emerged within maltreated youth (r(PRC/PCC) = .446, p = .001; r(STG) = .302, p = .031; r(SFG) = .445, p = .001), but less robustly within non-maltreated controls (r(PRC/PCC) = .261, p = .12; r(STG) = .424, p = .009; r(SFG) = .144, p = .394). Path analyses supported indirect paths for maltreatment (in the full sample) and emotional maltreatment (within maltreated youth before and after controlling for neglect and abuse) via negative parent representations to PRC/ PCC and SFG activation (Figure 2). As part of the medial frontoparietal network, PRC/ PCC subserves internally oriented processes (e.g., mental state attribution) whereas SFG subserves cognitive control and self-awareness. Negative parent representations following maltreatment, especially emotional maltreatment, may therefore predispose to hyper-vigilant/ over-controlled responses to social exclusion.

Authors

• Lars Otto White, Leipzig University
  Presenting Author

• Charlotte Catharina Schulz, Leipzig University

• Kai Von Klitzing, Uniklinikum Leipzig

• Pascal Vrtička, University of Essex