Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment, and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala between the ages of 25 and 36 years. Previous work has linked both low SES and maltreatment with reduced hippocampal volume in childhood, an effect attributed to childhood stress. In 46 adult subjects, only childhood maltreatment, and not childhood SES, predicted hippocampal volume in regression analyses, with greater maltreatment associated with lower volume. Neither factor was related to amygdala volume. When current SES and recent interpersonal stressful events were also considered, recent interpersonal stressful events predicted smaller hippocampal volumes over and above childhood maltreatment. Finally, exploratory analyses revealed a significant sex by childhood SES interaction, with women’s childhood SES showing a significantly more positive relation (less negative) with hippocampus volume than men’s. The overall effect of childhood maltreatment but not SES, and the sex-specific effect of childhood SES, indicate that different forms of stressful childhood adversity affect brain development differently.
Highlights
Childhood poverty and maltreatment both have lasting effects on cognitive development and mental health
The present study examines the association between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment and hippocampal and amygdala volume in early adulthood in order to examine the similar or distinct correlates of childhood SES and maltreatment
Abuse and exposure to domestic violence varied in this sample. 37% of the sample endorsed one or more items from the 6-item abridged Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire, with the remaining 63% endorsing none
Summary
Childhood poverty and maltreatment both have lasting effects on cognitive development and mental health. The two forms of adversity differ from one another [1], both have been explained by the effects of stress on the developing brain. In the case of maltreatment, both neglect and abuse would be expected to increase children’s stress. In the case of poverty, insecurity related to food, shelter, safety and other concomitants of low socioeconomic status would increase stress. The experiences associated with childhood poverty and maltreatment differ in many ways, including the threat of harm, frequency of exposure, and chronicity [2], and it may not be appropriate to assume that both sets of experiences affect the developing brain through the same mechanisms.
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