Brain structure and functional connectivity linking childhood cumulative trauma to COVID ‐19 vicarious traumatization

作者：Xiqin Liu, Yajun Zhao, Jingguang Li, Xueling Suo, Qiyong Gong, Song Wang · 发表于：Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1111/jcpp.13989 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Traumatic Brain Injury Research、Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some individuals to experience vicarious traumatization (VT), an adverse psychological reaction to those who are primarily traumatized, which may negatively impact one's mental health and well-being and has been demonstrated to vary with personal trauma history. The neural mechanism of VT and how past trauma history affects current VT remain largely unknown. This study aimed to identify neurobiological markers that track individual differences in VT and reveal the neural link between childhood cumulative trauma (CCT) and VT. METHODS: We used structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the pandemic to identify prospective brain markers for COVID-related VT by correlating individuals' VT levels during the pandemic with the gray matter volume (GMV) and seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and examined how these brain markers linked CCT to VT in a sample of general young adults (N = 115/100). RESULTS: Whole-brain GMV-behavior correlation analysis showed that VT was positively associated with GMV in the right dorsolateral prefrontal gyrus (DLPFC). Using the cluster derived from the GMV-behavior correlation analysis as the seed region, we further revealed that the RSFC between the right DLPFC and right precuneus was negatively associated with VT. Importantly, the right DLPFC volume and DLPFC-precuneus RSFC mediated the effect of CCT on VT. These findings remained unaffected by factors such...