Citation

Brady RG, Leverett SD, Mueller L, Ruscitti M, Latham AR, Smyser TA, Gerstein ED, Warner BB, Barch DM, Luby JL, Rogers CE, Smyser CD. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1016/j.jaac.2023.09.547

PMID

38070869

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Prenatal exposure to neighborhood crime has been associated with weaker neonatal frontolimbic connectivity; however, associations with early childhood behavior remain unclear. We hypothesized that living in a high crime neighborhood would be related to higher externalizing symptoms at 1 and 2 years, over and above other adversities, and that neonatal frontolimbic connectivity and observed parenting behaviors at 1 year would mediate this relationship.

METHOD: Participants included 399 pregnant women, recruited as part of the eLABE study. Geocoded neighborhood crime data was obtained from Applied Geographic Solution. A total of 319 healthy, non-sedated neonates were scanned using resting-state fMRI on a Prisma 3T scanner and had ≥10 minutes of high-quality data. Infant-Toddler Socioemotional Assessment Externalizing T-scores were available for 274 mothers of 1-year-olds and 257 mothers of 2-year-olds. Observed parenting behaviors were available for 202 parent-infant dyads at 1 year. Multilevel and mediation models tested longitudinal associations.

RESULTS: Living in a neighborhood with high violent (β=.15, CI=.05-.27, p=.004) and property (β=.10, CI=.01-.20, p=.039) crime was related to more externalizing symptoms at 1 and 2 years, controlling for other adversities. Weaker frontolimbic connectivity was also associated with higher externalizing symptoms at 1 and 2 years. After controlling for other adversities, parenting behaviors mediated the specific association between crime and externalizing symptoms, but frontolimbic connectivity did not.

CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence that early exposure to neighborhood crime and weaker neonatal frontolimbic connectivity may influence later externalizing symptoms and suggest that parenting may be an early intervention target for families in high crime areas.

Language: en

Keywords

fMRI; early childhood; early life adversity; externalizing behaviors; neighborhood crime