Abstract
Stress and emotion involve diverse developmental and individual differences. Partially attributed to the development of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the amygdala, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the precise genetic and experiential contributions remain unknown. In previous work, childhood basal cortisol function predicted adolescent resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) and psychopathology. To parse experience-driven (non-genetic) contributions, we investigated these relations with a monozygotic (MZ) twin design. Specifically, we examined whether intrapair differences in childhood afternoon cortisol levels predicted cotwin differences in adolescent brain function and coping. As expected, intrapair differences in childhood cortisol forecast amygdala-perigenual PFC rs-FC (R2 = 0.84, FWE-corrected p = 0.01), and amygdala recovery following unpleasant images (R2 = 0.40, FWE-corrected p < 0.05), such that the cotwin with higher childhood cortisol evinced relatively lower rs-FC and poorer amygdala recovery in adolescence. Cotwin differences in amygdala recovery also predicted coping styles. These data highlight experience-dependent change in childhood and adolescence.
Highlights
Stress sensitization involves a constellation of genetic and experience-driven processes
Using functional brain imaging with MZ twins, we show that intrapair differences in childhood cortisol predict neural resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) between the amygdala and pgPFC as well as amygdala recovery during an implicit emotion regulation task in adolescence
Cotwin differences in amygdala recovery significantly predicted the types of coping strategies individuals endorsed
Summary
Stress sensitization involves a constellation of genetic and experience-driven processes. Higher cortisol and reduced amygdala-vmPFC rs-FC were both suggestive of poor recovery and mediated robust relations between higher childhood basal afternoon cortisol and adolescent anxiety in girls. Such gender differences in how cortisol function and psychopathology relate have been detected previously in childhood, and these differences may reflect varying developmental pathways in boys versus girls. Despite progress in understanding how the HPA-axis is coupled with neural correlates of emotional behavior, we do not understand which features of neural activity are modulated by experience and/or genetics, and how or when this modulation occurs[1,3,4] If these relations are sensitive to experience, they may be associated with coping styles. Acceptance coping is linked to lower internalizing symptoms[17], and it mediates affect dysregulation in the children of mothers who favor this type of coping[18]
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