Early Life Stress

Early life stress (ELS), including abuse and neglect, is associated with higher risk for psychopathology during adolescence (e.g., depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation). ELS is also related to earlier onset of symptoms, more recurring symptoms, and higher occurence of overlapping disorders (Negriff et al., 2020). Human and rodent models show that females, in particular, show higher risk for depression and anxiety following ELS (Goodwill et al., 2019; He et al., 2020; Alejandra et al., 2018). There is also growing evidence that youth who have experienced ELS exhibit differences in brain circuitry compared to their typically developing peers. These neural differences have been shwon to contribute to the relation between ELS and forms of psychopathology, including depression (Sheridan and McLaughlin, 2020). It’s important that we understand how ELS during childhood affects the developing brain during adolescence, a period of profound continued maturation in the brain. The impact of ELS on neurocircuitry development may help us understand why some youth have early onset severe symptoms that remain elevated over time, including in adulthood. However, the impact of ELS on the longitudinal development of the brain is not well understood.

In my research, I am using multimodal neuroimaging to understand how ELS affects the development of structural and functional connections in the brain; I am also examining whether neurodevelopmental differences explain risk for and resilience to depression and anxiety in youth exposed to ELS. Finally, I am studying the roles of individual/ intrinsic (e.g., cognitive control) and environmental (e.g., parenting) variables in predicting resilience to psychopathology following ELS.

This work has been or is supported by the following organizations: the National Institute of Mental Health and the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation.