Associations between early-life stress exposure and internalizing symptomatology during the COVID-19 pandemic: Assessing the role of neurobehavioral mediators.

Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a major stressor that has been associated with increased risk for psychiatric illness in the general population. Recent work has highlighted that experiences of early-life stress (ELS) may impact individuals' psychological functioning and vulnerability for developing internalizing psychopathology in response to pandemic-related stress. However, little is known about the neurobehavioral factors that may mediate the association between ELS exposure and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology. The current study sought to examine the mediating roles of pre-pandemic resting-state frontoamygdala connectivity and concurrent emotion regulation (ER) in the association between ELS and pandemic-related internalizing symptomatology. Methods: Retrospective life-stress histories, concurrent self-reported ER strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression), concurrent self-reported internalizing symptomatology (i.e., depression- and anxiety-related symptomatology), and resting-state functional connectivity data from a sample of adults (N = 64, M age = 22.12, female = 68.75%) were utilized. Results: There were no significant direct associations between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology. Neither frontoamygdala functional connectivity nor ER strategy use mediated an association between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology (ps > 0.05). Exploratory analyses identified a significant moderating effect of reappraisal use on the association between ELS and internalizing symptomatology (ß = -0.818, p = 0.047), such that increased reappraisal use buffered the impact of ELS on psychopathology. Conclusions: While frontoamygdala connectivity and ER do not appear to mediate the association between ELS and COVID-related internalizing symptomatology, our findings suggest that the use of reappraisal may buffer against the effect of ELS on mental health during the pandemic.

Associations among negative life events, changes in cortico-limbic connectivity, and psychopathology in the ABCD Study.

Adversity exposure is a risk factor for psychopathology, which most frequently onsets during adolescence, and prior research has demonstrated that alterations in cortico-limbic connectivity may account in part for this association. In a sample of youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (N = 4006), we tested a longitudinal structural equation model to examine the indirect effect of adversity exposure (negative life events) on later psychopathology via changes in cortico-limbic resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). We also examined the potential protective effects of parental acceptance. Generally, cortico-limbic connectivity became more strongly negative between baseline and year 2 follow-up, suggesting that stronger negative correlations within these cortico-limbic networks may reflect a more mature phenotype. Exposure to a greater number of negative life events was associated with stronger negative cortico-limbic rsFC which, in turn, was associated with lower internalizing (but not externalizing) symptoms. The indirect effect of negative life events on internalizing symptoms via cortico-limbic rsFC was significant. Parental acceptance did not moderate the association between negative life events and rsFC. Our findings highlight how stressful childhood experiences may accelerate neurobiological maturation in specific cortico-limbic connections, potentially reflecting an adaptive process that protects against internalizing problems in the context of adversity.