Childhood adversity is thought to undermine youth socioemotional development via altered neural function within regions that support emotion processing. These effects are hypothesized to be developmentally specific, with adversity in early childhood sculpting subcortical structures (e.g., amygdala) and adversity during adolescence impacting later-developing structures (e.g., prefrontal cortex; PFC). However, little work has tested these theories directly in humans. Using prospectively collected longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) (N = 4,144) and neuroimaging data from a subsample of families recruited in adolescence (N = 162), the current study investigated the trajectory of harsh parenting across childhood (i.e., ages 3 to 9) and how initial levels versus changes in harsh parenting across childhood were associated with corticolimbic activation and connectivity during socioemotional processing. Harsh parenting in early childhood (indexed by the intercept term from a linear growth curve model) was associated with less amygdala, but not PFC, reactivity to angry facial expressions. In contrast, change in harsh parenting across childhood (indexed by the slope term) was associated with less PFC, but not amygdala, activation to angry faces. Increases in, but not initial levels of, harsh parenting were also associated with stronger positive amygdala–PFC connectivity during angry face processing.

人们认为，童年逆境会改变支持情绪处理的区域的神经功能，从而破坏青少年的社会情绪发展。这些影响被假设为发育特异性的，儿童早期的逆境塑造皮质下结构（例如杏仁核），而青春期的逆境会影响后期发育的结构（例如前额皮质；PFC）。然而，很少有工作直接在人类身上测试这些理论。本研究利用脆弱家庭和儿童福祉研究 (FFCWS) ( N = 4,144) 前瞻性收集的纵向数据和青春期家庭子样本的神经影像数据 ( N = 162)，调查了整个童年时期严酷养育的轨迹（即3至9岁）以及童年时期严厉养育的初始水平与变化如何与社会情绪处理过程中皮质边缘的激活和连接相关。幼儿期的严厉养育（以线性生长曲线模型的截距项为索引）与杏仁核对愤怒面部表情的反应减少有关，但与前额叶皮层无关。相比之下，童年时期严酷养育方式的变化（以斜率项表示）与前额叶皮层（PFC）对愤怒面孔的激活减少有关，但与杏仁核无关。严厉的养育方式的增加（但不是初始水平）也与愤怒面部处理过程中更强的杏仁核-前额叶皮层积极连接有关。