Adversity and adolescent brain development: differential associations with grey and white matter across two longitudinal cohorts

作者：Léa Michel, Divyangana Rakesh, Tobias Banaschewski, Gareth J. Barker, Arun L.W. Bokde, Rüdiger Brühl, Sylvane Desrivières, Herta Flor, Penny Gowland, Antoine Grigis, Andreas Heinz, Hervé Lemaître, Frauke Nees, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Tomáš Paus, Luise Poustka, Michael N. Smolka, Nathalie Holz, Nilakshi Vaidya, Henrik Walter, Robert Whelan, Paul Wirsching, Günter Schumann, Delia Fuhrmann, Rogier Kievit · 发表于：bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.64898/2026.07.06.736703 · 研究领域：Child Abuse and Trauma、Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research、Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications

Globally, 60% of the population has experienced at least one type of adversity (e.g., emotional abuse, bullying) across infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Such experiences have been linked to an increased risk for mental health disorders. Changes in brain structure following experiences of childhood adversity have been hypothesised to be a mechanistic pathway explaining later mental health issues. However, to understand how changes in brain structure might mediate the effects of adversity, it is essential to identify which underlying neuronal processes may be affected by different types of adverse experiences. A key open question is whether grey or white matter is more vulnerable to adversity, as these two structures reflect distinct neurobiological mechanisms. This study investigated whether differences in trajectories of grey and white matter development during adolescence can be explained by exposure to different types of adversity. We applied the Adverse Adolescent Experiences Framework (Pollmann et al., 2025) categorising adversity into four levels: Intrapersonal (e.g., accidents), Caregiver (e.g., emotional neglect), Peer (e.g., bullying), and Community (e.g., neighbourhood safety). Exposure to each of the four factors was estimated through principal components analyses. We analysed two large longitudinal datasets: the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (~12,000 adolescents measured at ages 10, 12, and 14) and the IMAGEN study (~1,400 adolescents measured at...