Title

Associations between children's family environment, spontaneous brain oscillations, and emotional and behavioral problems.

Authors

Sato, João Ricardo; Biazoli, Claudinei Eduardo; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão; Gadelha, Ary; Crossley, Nicolas; Vieira, Gilson; Zugman, André; Picon, Felipe Almeida; Pan, Pedro Mario; Hoexter, Marcelo Queiroz; Amaro, Edson; Anés, Mauricio; Moura, Luciana Monteiro; Del'Aquilla, Marco Antonio Gomes; Mcguire, Philip; Rohde, Luis Augusto; Miguel, Euripedes Constantino; Bressan, Rodrigo Affonseca; Jackowski, Andrea Parolin

Abstract

The family environment in childhood has a strong effect on mental health outcomes throughout life. This effect is thought to depend at least in part on modifications of neurodevelopment trajectories. In this exploratory study, we sought to investigate whether a feasible resting-state fMRI metric of local spontaneous oscillatory neural activity, the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), is associated with the levels of children's family coherence and conflict. Moreover, we sought to further explore whether spontaneous activity in the brain areas influenced by family environment would also be associated with a mental health outcome, namely the incidence of behavioral and emotional problems. Resting-state fMRI data from 655 children and adolescents (6–15 years old) were examined. The quality of the family environment was found to be positively correlated with fALFF in the left temporal pole and negatively correlated with fALFF in the right orbitofrontal cortex. Remarkably, increased fALFF in the temporal pole was associated with a lower incidence of behavioral and emotional problems, whereas increased fALFF in the orbitofrontal cortex was correlated with a higher incidence.

Subjects

FRONTAL lobe; MENTAL illness risk factors; TEMPORAL lobe; AFFECTIVE disorders; CEREBRAL cortex; BRAIN diseases; DIAGNOSIS of brain abnormalities; BRAIN mapping; CHILDREN'S health; MAGNETIC resonance imaging; MENTAL health; RESEARCH; ADOLESCENT health; FAMILY conflict; DISEASE incidence; DISEASE complications; PHYSIOLOGY

Publication

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2019, Vol 28, Issue 6, p835

ISSN

1018-8827

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1007/s00787-018-1240-y