Commentary: Splitting and lumping brain and childhood adversity measures – a commentary on Gheorghe, Li, Gallacher, and Bauermeister (2020)

Abstract

The article by Gheorghe, Li, Gallacher & Bauermeister (2020) reports a neuroimaging study of childhood adversity assessed retrospectively in persons aged, on average, 62 years. Severe child maltreatment has repeatedly been related to enduring alterations in brain structure. These studies are typically conducted in high-risk samples, often combining different forms of adversity that co-occur in one adversity score. The authors chose to separately analyse each of three adversity questions that tap into emotional abuse, neglect and physical abuse. In contrast, the brain structural measures are combined to several latent variables. In this commentary, I argue that this analytical strategy, which runs counter to the common practice, is a strength of the study. As such, it provides important evidence of long-term brain developmental consequences of early adversities. The results suggest that memories of emotional abuse, but not other common adversities, are associated with differences in the cerebellum and part of the striatum only.