Childhood Emotional Neglect Leaves Intergenerational Effects on Brain

Childhood emotional neglect is the parents' failure to respond to the emotional needs of their children which could lead to lifetime consequences to the child. Understanding why a child experiences emotional neglect is important for parents, teachers, and caregivers because it will help them understand a child experiencing it and know what can be done.

According to Healthline, childhood emotional neglect does not necessarily mean emotional abuse, as abuse is usually an intentional act. It can also be a failure on the parents' part to notice a child's emotional needs that should be given by them.

Previous studies show that childhood emotional neglect only affects the child experiencing it. However, a recent study published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging has shown that it could also leave an imprint on the next generation's brain.

Childhood Emotional Neglect Can Be Passed Down to the Next Generations

The new research published by Elsevier has shown that early life experiences can significantly affect brain development and neurobiological health that can affect the next generation. The study showed that the infants of mothers who suffered emotional neglect as a child displayed an altered brain circuitry that is responsible for fear response and anxiety.

Study lead author Cassandra Hendrix, Ph.D., of the Department of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, USA, said that "these results show that our brain development is not only shaped by what happens in our own life but is also impacted by things that happened to our parents before we were even conceived."

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The study participants were 49 Black mother-infant pairs that were interviewed during the first trimester of their pregnancy about childhood trauma and were evaluated for current prenatal stress levels and if they are experiencing anxiety and depression.

A month after giving birth, the babies underwent a brain scan using the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive procedure to assess the infants' brain activity.

According to EurekAlert's report, the researchers found that the babies whose mothers experienced childhood emotional neglect had stronger functional connections between the amygdala and cortical regions. Both the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, and the cingulate cortex are responsible for regulating emotions.

Moreover, the researchers controlled the mother's current stress levels and found that the more emotional neglect a mother has experienced during her childhood, the more connected is her baby's amygdala to the prefrontal cortical regions, IND News reported. But stronger connectivity does not correlate with the physical abuse or neglect of the mother.

Highlighting the Importance of Emotional Support in Early Life

According to Hendrix, the altered brain circuitry observed in the one-month-old infants could mean that this could be a mechanism that leads to increased risk of anxiety or a compensatory mechanism if the infant has less supportive parents or caregivers.

The study highlights the importance of emotional support from parents or caregivers to infants because the effects of childhood emotional neglect could leave behind a neural signature in the baby that predisposes it to detect a threat in their environment readily.

Cameron Carter, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, said that the findings add evidence to the intergenerational consequences of early life adversity. But he also noted that a longitudinal study is needed to understand the functional significance of the altered brain circuitry in infants in terms of emotional and social development.