title: Childhood emotional maltreatment severity is associated with dorsal medial prefrontal cortex responsivity to social exclusion in young adults.
abstract: Children who have experienced chronic parental rejection and exclusion during childhood, as is the case in childhood emotional maltreatment, may become especially sensitive to social exclusion. This study investigated the neural and emotional responses to social exclusion (with the Cyberball task) in young adults reporting childhood emotional maltreatment. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain responses and self-reported distress to social exclusion in 46 young adult patients and healthy controls (mean age = 19.2±2.16) reporting low to extreme childhood emotional maltreatment. Consistent with prior studies, social exclusion was associated with activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, severity of childhood emotional maltreatment was positively associated with increased dorsal medial prefrontal cortex responsivity to social exclusion. The dorsal medial prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in self-and other-referential processing, suggesting that the more individuals have been rejected and maltreated in childhood, the more self- and other- processing is elicited by social exclusion in adulthood. Negative self-referential thinking, in itself, enhances cognitive vulnerability for the development of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, our findings may underlie the emotional and behavioural difficulties that have been reported in adults reporting childhood emotional maltreatment.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Leiden, the Netherlands ; University of Cambridge, Department of Developmental Psychiatry, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anne-Laura
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: van Harmelen
authors.affiliation: De Jutters, Youth Mental Health Care Center, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hauber
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bregtje
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gunther Moor
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Leiden, the Netherlands ; Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spinhoven
authors.affiliation: De Jutters, Youth Mental Health Care Center, The Hague, The Netherlands ; De Fjord Lucertis, Centre for Orthopsychiatry and Forensic Youth Psychiatry, Capelle aan den IJssel, The Netherlands ; Curium-Leiden University Medical Centre, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eveline A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Crone
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain & Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands ; Leiden University, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bernet M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Elzinga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult