Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry

Harriet Cornwell; Nicola Toschi; Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis; Marlene Staginnus; Areti Smaragdi; Karen Gonzalez-Madruga; Jack Rogers; Anne Martinelli; Gregor Kohls; Nora Maria Raschle; Kerstin Konrad; Christina Stadler; Christine Freitag; Stephane De Brito; Graeme Fairchild

doi:10.1017/S0954579423000718

Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry

Harriet Cornwell, Nicola Toschi, Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis, Marlene Staginnus, Areti Smaragdi, Karen Gonzalez-Madruga, Jack Rogers, Anne Martinelli, Gregor Kohls, Nora Maria Raschle, Kerstin Konrad, Christina Stadler, Christine Freitag, Stephane De Brito, Graeme Fairchild

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that resilience in youth may have a neurobiological basis. However, the existing literature lacks a consistent way of operationalizing resilience, often relying on arbitrary judgments or narrow definitions (e.g., not developing PTSD) to classify individuals as resilient. Therefore, this study used data-driven, continuous resilience scores based on adversity and psychopathology to investigate associations between resilience and brain structure in youth. Structural MRI data from 298 youth aged 9-18 years ( M age = 13.51; 51% female) who participated in the European multisite FemNAT-CD study were preprocessed using SPM12 and analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Resilience scores were derived by regressing data on adversity exposure against current/lifetime psychopathology and quantifying each individual's distance from the regression line. General linear models tested for associations between resilience and gray matter volume (GMV) and examined whether associations between resilience and GMV differed by sex. Resilience was positively correlated with GMV in the right inferior frontal and medial frontal gyri. Sex-by-resilience interactions were observed in the middle temporal and middle frontal gyri. These findings demonstrate that resilience in youth is associated with volume in brain regions implicated in executive functioning, emotion regulation, and attention. Our results also provide evidence for sex differences in the neurobiology of resilience.

Original language	English
Number of pages	13
Journal	Development and Psychopathology
Early online date	10 Jul 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000718
Publication status	Published - 10 Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by grant MR/N0137941/1 to the GW4 BIOMED MRC DTP, awarded to the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter from the Medical Research Council (MRC)/UKRI, and grant ES/P000630/1 for the SWDTP, awarded to the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and West of England (UWE) from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/UKRI. N.M.R. has received grant support as a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Fellow (grant number 2016 1217 13). The FemNAT-CD study was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, grant number 602407; coordinator C.M. Freitag).

Keywords

adversity
brain structure
Resilience
voxel-based morphometry
youth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1017/S0954579423000718Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Cornwell, H., Toschi, N., Hamilton-Giachritsis, C., Staginnus, M., Smaragdi, A., Gonzalez-Madruga, K., Rogers, J., Martinelli, A., Kohls, G., Raschle, N. M., Konrad, K., Stadler, C., Freitag, C., De Brito, S., & Fairchild, G. (2023). Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry. Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000718

Cornwell, H, Toschi, N, Hamilton-Giachritsis, C , Staginnus, M, Smaragdi, A, Gonzalez-Madruga, K, Rogers, J, Martinelli, A, Kohls, G, Raschle, NM, Konrad, K, Stadler, C, Freitag, C, De Brito, S & Fairchild, G 2023, 'Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry', Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000718

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abstract = "There is increasing evidence that resilience in youth may have a neurobiological basis. However, the existing literature lacks a consistent way of operationalizing resilience, often relying on arbitrary judgments or narrow definitions (e.g., not developing PTSD) to classify individuals as resilient. Therefore, this study used data-driven, continuous resilience scores based on adversity and psychopathology to investigate associations between resilience and brain structure in youth. Structural MRI data from 298 youth aged 9-18 years ( M age = 13.51; 51% female) who participated in the European multisite FemNAT-CD study were preprocessed using SPM12 and analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Resilience scores were derived by regressing data on adversity exposure against current/lifetime psychopathology and quantifying each individual's distance from the regression line. General linear models tested for associations between resilience and gray matter volume (GMV) and examined whether associations between resilience and GMV differed by sex. Resilience was positively correlated with GMV in the right inferior frontal and medial frontal gyri. Sex-by-resilience interactions were observed in the middle temporal and middle frontal gyri. These findings demonstrate that resilience in youth is associated with volume in brain regions implicated in executive functioning, emotion regulation, and attention. Our results also provide evidence for sex differences in the neurobiology of resilience. ",

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author = "Harriet Cornwell and Nicola Toschi and Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis and Marlene Staginnus and Areti Smaragdi and Karen Gonzalez-Madruga and Jack Rogers and Anne Martinelli and Gregor Kohls and Raschle, {Nora Maria} and Kerstin Konrad and Christina Stadler and Christine Freitag and {De Brito}, Stephane and Graeme Fairchild",

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AU - Smaragdi, Areti

AU - Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen

AU - Rogers, Jack

AU - Martinelli, Anne

AU - Kohls, Gregor

AU - Raschle, Nora Maria

AU - Konrad, Kerstin

AU - Stadler, Christina

AU - Freitag, Christine

AU - De Brito, Stephane

AU - Fairchild, Graeme

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported in part by grant MR/N0137941/1 to the GW4 BIOMED MRC DTP, awarded to the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter from the Medical Research Council (MRC)/UKRI, and grant ES/P000630/1 for the SWDTP, awarded to the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and West of England (UWE) from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)/UKRI. N.M.R. has received grant support as a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Fellow (grant number 2016 1217 13). The FemNAT-CD study was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, grant number 602407; coordinator C.M. Freitag).

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N2 - There is increasing evidence that resilience in youth may have a neurobiological basis. However, the existing literature lacks a consistent way of operationalizing resilience, often relying on arbitrary judgments or narrow definitions (e.g., not developing PTSD) to classify individuals as resilient. Therefore, this study used data-driven, continuous resilience scores based on adversity and psychopathology to investigate associations between resilience and brain structure in youth. Structural MRI data from 298 youth aged 9-18 years ( M age = 13.51; 51% female) who participated in the European multisite FemNAT-CD study were preprocessed using SPM12 and analyzed using voxel-based morphometry. Resilience scores were derived by regressing data on adversity exposure against current/lifetime psychopathology and quantifying each individual's distance from the regression line. General linear models tested for associations between resilience and gray matter volume (GMV) and examined whether associations between resilience and GMV differed by sex. Resilience was positively correlated with GMV in the right inferior frontal and medial frontal gyri. Sex-by-resilience interactions were observed in the middle temporal and middle frontal gyri. These findings demonstrate that resilience in youth is associated with volume in brain regions implicated in executive functioning, emotion regulation, and attention. Our results also provide evidence for sex differences in the neurobiology of resilience.

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JF - Development and Psychopathology

ER -

Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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