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Exposure to maltreatment during childhood is associated with structural changes throughout the brain. However, the structural differences that are most strongly associated with maltreatment remain unclear given the limited number of whole-brain studies. The present study used machine learning to identify if and how brain structure distinguished young adults with and without a history of maltreatment. Young adults (ages 18–21, n = 384) completed an assessment of childhood trauma exposure and a structural MRI as part of the IMAGEN study. Elastic net regularized regression was used to identify the structural features that identified those with a history of maltreatment. A generalizable model that included 7 cortical thicknesses, 15 surface areas, and 5 subcortical volumes was identified (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.71, p < 0.001). Those with a maltreatment history had reduced surface areas and cortical thicknesses primarily in fronto-temporal regions. This group also had larger cortical thicknesses in occipital regions and surface areas in frontal regions. The results suggest childhood maltreatment is associated with multiple measures of structure throughout the brain. The use of a large sample without exposure to adulthood trauma provides further evidence for the unique contribution of childhood trauma to brain structure. The identified regions overlapped with regions associated with psychopathology in adults with maltreatment histories, which offers insights as to how these disorders manifest.

Background: PTSD is posited to develop in the acute posttrauma period. Few studies have examined psychopathology symptoms within this period due to the demands on individuals in the first month after a trauma. Mobile devices can overcome these barriers. The feasibility of using mobile devices for this purpose, however, is unclear. Objective: The present study evaluated the acceptability of administering PTSD symptom assessments via a mobile application throughout the acute posttrauma period. Method: Participants (N = 90) were recruited from a Level 1 Trauma Center within M = 4.88 days of experiencing a traumatic event. A mobile application was placed on their smartphone that administered a daily self-report assessment of PTSD symptoms for 30 days. Participants were compensated US$1 for each assessment completed. Results: The overall response rate was 61.1% or M = 18.33, SD = 9.12 assessments. Assessments were accessed M = 65.2 minutes after participants were notified to complete them and took M = 2.52 minutes to complete. Participants reported that the daily assessments were not bothersome and were moderately helpful. Conclusion: The present study suggests that using mobile devices to monitor mental health symptoms during the acute posttrauma period is feasible and acceptable. Strategies are needed to determine how to best take advantage of these data once collected.

Childhood maltreatment is a major public health concern and is associated with both psychological and brain changes in adulthood. Conceptualization of childhood maltreatment can be categorized along two axes, threat and deprivation, each of which can be associated with varying outcomes of psychopathology and brain changes. The brain is organized into broad connectivity networks, including the Salience Network (SN), the Default-Mode Network (DMN), and the Central Executive Network (CEN). Prior work has examined the relationship between these networks and psychopathology associated with childhood maltreatment, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). This study assessed the differences in functional connectivity between those with a history of threat and deprivation and healthy controls in the SN, DMN, and CEN in a sample of 99 emerging adults (n = 62 maltreatment exposed participants; n = 37 healthy control participants). The relationship between maltreatment, PTSD, and MDD symptoms as mediated by functional brain connectivity was also examined. Increased coupling between DMN and CEN connectivity was found in those with threat exposure, while increased anticorrelated connectivity was found between the SN and CEN in deprivation exposed participants. There was no evidence, however, that these differences mediated the relation between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology. This study may have important implications for developmental models of brain integration in those with experiences of childhood maltreatment.

The majority of adults in the United States will experience a potentially traumatic event (PTE) during their lifetime, yet only a small subset will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is evidence to suggest that the period of time immediately following the trauma (the acute post-trauma period) may be particularly important in determining which individuals develop PTSD. The current study examined trajectories of PTSD symptom severity across the acute post-trauma period and if membership in these trajectories was predictive of PTSD symptom severity 1- and 3-months post-trauma. Utilizing Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA), four trajectories were identified: low and decreasing, moderate and decreasing, moderate-high and consistent, and high and consistent. Further, trajectory membership in the acute post-trauma period was found to predict differences in PTSD symptom severity at both 1- and 3- months post-trauma. Specifically, there were significant differences between 1-month PTSD symptoms for all trajectories, such that the “low and decreasing,” “moderate and decreasing,” “moderate-high and consistent,” and “high and consistent” trajectories were associated with increasing severity of PTSD symptoms, respectively. There were significant differences between 3-month PTSD symptoms for all trajectories except the “moderate-high and consistent” and “high and consistent” trajectories. These findings highlight a relationship between PTSD symptoms during the acute post-trauma period and those that are observed at a later point.