The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma And Psychological Characteristics,Gray Matter Alterations In Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder

Objective: Previous studies have suggested associations between childhood trauma experiences and psychological characteristics such as psychological resilience and personality traits in adolescent major depressive disorder(MDD).The purpose of the study was to gain insight into the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological traits such as psychological resilience and personality traits and their underlying morphological characteristics of brain structures in MDD adolescents.Methods: A total of 57 adolescents with first-episode depression(FED)from the psychiatric outpatient clinic of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University and 36 age-,sex-and educationmatched healthy controls(HC)from community of Changsha were recruited from July 2018 to February 2022.The adverse childhood abuse,personality characteristics and current psychological resilience were assessed using Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form,Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and Connor Davidson Resilience Scale,respectively.And all subjects completed MRI structure scanning.The Matlab software and SPM12,CAT12 software were used to preprocess the structural data.Two-sample t-test was used for statistical analysis of grey matter volume(GMV),cortical thickness and complexity data of two groups,and significantly different brain areas were obtained(voxel P<0.005,cluster level p < 0.05,GRF corrected).Pearson correlation analysis between childhood trauma and psychological resilience,personality traits,GMV of brain regions of difference were conducted by using SPSS(P < 0.05,Bonferroni corrected),and mediation analyses of GMV of brain regions of difference were assessed between childhood trauma and psychological resilience.Results: There were no significant differences with age,gender and years of education between FEDs and HCs(p>0.05).Total scores of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(46.3 ± 15.1 vs.29.1 ± 10.1),scores of emotional abuse(10.1 ± 5.2 vs.5.6 ± 2.5),emotional neglect(16.5 ± 4.4vs.8.1 ± 3.4)and physical neglect(5.4 ± 3.2 vs.4.9 ± 2.3)were higher in the FED group than in the HC group(p<0.01),and the total scores of Connor Davidson Resilience Scale(31.9 ± 14.9 vs.63.5 ± 11.3),scores of tenacity(15.4 ± 8.2 vs.30.6 ± 7.5),strength(11.1 ± 5 vs.22.3 ± 3.3)and optimism(5.4 ± 2.7 vs.10.6 ± 2)were lower in the FED group than in the HC group(p<0.01).Adolescents with FED had significant decreased gray matter volume(GMV)of right inferior orbital frontal lobe,right superior temporal gyrus,right precuneus,left angular,right postcentral gyrus,right post cingulum cortex,left fusiform,right middle frontal lobe and right calcarine,and increased GMV in the left putamen and right pallidum compared with HCs(voxel P <0.005,cluster level p < 0.05,GRF corrected).Among adolescents,emotional abuse,emotional neglect,physical neglect,and total scores of childhood abuse were significantly negatively correlated with total scores of Connor Davidson Resilience Scale and scores of each subscale,and sexual abuse was significantly negatively correlated with lie(p < 0.05,corrected by Bonferroni).In addition,emotional abuse was significantly and negatively correlated with GMV in the right calcarine(p < 0.05,corrected by Bonferroni),and the GMV of right calcarine partially mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological resilience.Conclusions: Adolescents with MDD experience more severe childhood trauma,including emotional abuse,emotional neglect and physical neglect,and are characterized by poorer psychological resilience.In addition,childhood abuse leads to poor psychological resilience in adolescents.Also,adolescents with MDD have extensive structural brain damage,in which the GMV of the right calcarine may partially mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological resilience among adolescents.