Differential associations of childhood abuse and neglect with neural responses to social reward and punishment in adults with anxiety or depression

TL;DR

Childhood neglect and abuse are linked to different brain activity patterns in adults with anxiety or depression when anticipating social rewards.

Contribution

This study identifies distinct neural associations between childhood neglect and abuse and social reward processing in adults with mental health disorders.

Findings

Greater childhood neglect correlates with increased caudate and putamen activation during social reward anticipation.

Childhood abuse is associated with decreased activation in the same brain regions during social reward anticipation.

Only neglect remained a significant predictor of putamen activation when both abuse and neglect were considered together.

Abstract

Childhood adversity increases risk for impaired social functioning later in life; however, neural pathways delineating this association are poorly understood. Different types of adverse interpersonal experiences (i.e., abuse, neglect) may impact neural pathways distinctly, resulting in unique consequences on social motivation and behavior in adulthood. Here, we investigated neural responses during the anticipation of social reward and punishment and their associations with childhood abuse and neglect in adults with a depressive and/or anxiety disorder and social impairment. Participants (N = 57) completed an fMRI social incentive delay task. In region-of-interest analyses, we examined activation in striatal regions when participants anticipated receiving potential social reward or avoiding social punishment in relation to self-reported childhood abuse and neglect. Individuals endorsing greater neglect during childhood demonstrated increased activation in the caudate (β = 0.359, p = 0.006) and putamen (β = 0.454, p < 0.001) during anticipation of social reward, while participants reporting greater abuse during childhood showed decreased activation in the same regions (β = −0.314, p = 0.024 and β = −0.341, p = 0.014, respectively). When both types of adversity were included in the same model, only neglect remained a significant predictor of putamen activation during social reward anticipation (β = 0.402, p = 0.009). No significant associations were observed between childhood trauma and activation during anticipation of social punishment. Findings reveal differential associations of childhood abuse and neglect with dorsal striatum activation during social reward anticipation in adults with anxiety and depression. Treatments targeting aberrant social reward processing may benefit patients who have experienced significant childhood adversity, and different approaches may be needed based on the type(s) of early adversity experienced.

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