UCLA study shows the lasting effects of child abuse on the brain

UCLA researchers have revealed new insights into how childhood abuse changes brain structure. The study, led by UCLA psychologists, is the largest of its kind to investigate the neurobiological legacy of this trauma across a global sample of people.

Previous research on this subject had focused on the cumulative effects of long-term maltreatment, but had not considered contextual influences. The brain is particularly sensitive during childhood while its major neural networks are still forming, raising questions about how the physical structure of the brain relates to developmental timing.

“We know that childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for many stress-related disorders, including major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, and we wanted to know if there was what amounted to a neurobiological scar associated with these adverse experiences,” said UCLA psychology professor Tiffany Ho, the corresponding author of the study.

Ho worked closely with Haley Wang, a UCLA doctoral candidate in clinical psychology. Supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health, Wang collaborated with the international research collective ENIGMA Consortium to gather brain MRI images from eight countries. The sample included 1,389 patients with posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, along with 2,322 healthy controls.

The team then measured brain dimensions, such as the cortex, subcortex and overall surface area, and asked participants to answer a questionnaire that retrospectively assessed childhood abuse and neglect. To analyze the data, the researchers devised two separate severity scores for each category of maltreatment and used a standard index that measures how the brain typically grows.

The results identified a distinct pattern: More severe abuse was associated with noticeable changes in several brain regions, especially in young women. Neglect also affected brain structure, although its scope was limited.

“We found a widespread pattern of volume changes, surface area changes and thickness changes in many regions that are involved in emotional and cognitive functioning,” Wang said.

These differences suggest that adversity fundamentally altered the neurodevelopmental trajectories of these brain regions. The heightened effects in women might be correlated with the higher incidence of sexual trauma among girls as compared to boys during this sensitive period of development.

With continued federal funding, further research might examine why certain brains respond to trauma more strongly, how factors such as age and sex shape this pattern, and the specific cognitive, emotional or developmental abilities of individuals with brain “scarring” due to early-life trauma. By investigating the dynamic and multifaceted nature of this phenomenon, the UCLA team offers a better understanding of the neurobiological effects of child abuse that could inform future treatments and therapies for survivors.