Objective

To determine whether structural and individual forms of stigma are associated with neurodevelopment in children.

Method

Stigma related to gender, race, and Latinx ethnicity was measured at the structural level using objective state-level indicators of social policies and prejudicial attitudes and at the individual level using self-reports of perceived discrimination. Respective associations of stigma with hippocampal volume and amygdala reactivity to threat were examined using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (N = 11,534, mean age 9.9 years), the first multisite neuroimaging study that provided substantial variability in sociopolitical contexts and that included individual-level measures of stigma among youth.

Results

In a preregistered analysis, Black (B = −58.26, p = .023) and Latinx (B = −40.10, p = .044) youths in higher (vs lower) structural stigma contexts were found to have smaller hippocampal volume, controlling for total intracranial volume, demographics, and family socioeconomic status. This association was also observed at a trend-level among girls (p = .082). The magnitude of the difference in hippocampal volume between high and low structural stigma states was equivalent to the predicted impact of a $20,000 difference in annual family income in this sample. As hypothesized, structural stigma was not associated with hippocampal volume in nonstigmatized youths, providing evidence of specificity. Perceived discrimination was unrelated to hippocampal volume in stigmatized groups. No associations between perceived discrimination or structural stigma and amygdala reactivity to threat were observed.

Conclusion

This study provides novel evidence that an objective measure of structural stigma may be more strongly related to hippocampal volume than subjective perceptions of stigma, suggesting that contextual approaches to stigma could yield new insights into neurodevelopment among marginalized youth.

中文翻译：

---

生活在高耻辱环境中的黑人和拉丁裔青年的海马体积较小

客观的

确定结构性和个体形式的污名是否与儿童的神经发育有关。

方法

与性别、种族和拉丁裔相关的污名在结构层面使用社会政策和偏见态度的客观州级指标进行测量，在个人层面使用感知歧视的自我报告进行测量。使用青少年大脑认知发展 (ABCD) 研究（N = 11,534，平均年龄 9.9 岁）的数据检查了耻辱感与海马体体积和杏仁核对威胁的反应性的各自关联，这是第一个多站点神经影像学研究，在社会政治背景和这包括个人层面的青年耻辱措施。

结果

在一项预注册分析中，黑人（B  = −58.26，p  = .023）和拉丁裔（B  = −40.10，p  = .044）在较高（相对于较低）结构耻辱环境中的青少年被发现具有较小的海马体积，控制颅内总体积、人口统计学和家庭社会经济地位。这种关联也在女孩的趋势水平上观察到（p =.082）。在这个样本中，高结构耻辱状态和低结构耻辱状态之间海马体积差异的大小相当于家庭年收入 20,000 美元差异的预测影响。正如假设的那样，结构性污名与非污名化青少年的海马体积无关，这提供了特异性证据。在污名化群体中，感知到的歧视与海马体积无关。没有观察到感知到的歧视或结构性污名与杏仁核对威胁的反应之间的关联。

结论

这项研究提供了新的证据，表明结构性污名化的客观测量可能与海马体体积的相关性比对污名化的主观感知更强烈，这表明对污名化的语境方法可以对边缘化青年的神经发育产生新的见解。