How does exposure to violent neighbourhoods affect youth brain development?
Exposure to community violence linked to altered neural function in regions of the brain supporting emotion and threat processing.
Decades of research have demonstrated that concentrated neighbourhood disadvantage is associated with negative academic, behavioural, and mental health outcomes in children and adolescents. A new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan (MI, USA) delved deeper into the proximal mechanisms by which community violence may impact brain development.
The amygdala is the hub of the stress response system and is highly sensitive to socioemotional situations. By encoding context-specific information, the amygdala acts as the interface between perceived threat and physiological and behavioural responses. Late childhood and adolescence are a key period in youth brain development and previous research has shown that children who have been abused or neglected by family members have an increased reactivity in the amygdala when processing negative, fearful or neutral facial expressions.
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To study whether exposure to neighbourhood violence might also affect amygdala reactivity, the researchers analysed data from 708 children and adolescents (aged 7–19), recruited from families that are enrolled in the Michigan Twins Neurogenetic study. Participants completed a set of questionnaires and a demographic interview. They also underwent a functional MRI scan, which scanned the brain whilst the participants looked at a range of faces with different facial expressions.
The study, as previous research suggests, found that disadvantaged neighbourhoods confer increased risk for children and adolescents by increasing their exposure to violent crime. As well as this, young people exposed to greater community violence displayed increased amygdala reactivity to fearful or angry faces, suggesting that exposure to community violence may be one route through which living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood impacts brain development.
The study went on to investigate whether a nurturing parenting style would negate any maladaptive outcomes by modulating the stress response. They found that despite living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, children with more nurturing parents were not as likely to be exposed to community violence, and for those who have been exposed, had a diminished impact on the brain.
The co-author of the study, Alex Burt explained, “parents may be an important buffer against these broader structural inequalities, and thus working with parents may be one way to help protect children while we also work on policies to reduce the concentration of disadvantage in neighbourhoods and the risk for exposure to violence in the community”.
Overall, this research underscores the importance of implementing structural measures to safeguard children and adolescents from the negative impact of community violence. Additionally, it emphasizes how supportive and positive parenting can foster resilience in children and teenagers facing adversity.
