Yuanyuan Chen’s research while affiliated with Guangzhou University and other places

Childhood maltreatment has been demonstrated to impact brain development. However, whether childhood maltreatment can influence the effects of recent stress on brain networks remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate whether childhood maltreatment moderates the longitudinal relationship between recent life stress and within- and between-network connectivity in key brain networks, including the anterior salience (ASN), central executive (CEN), default mode (DMN), and emotional regulation network (ERN). A cohort of 172 individuals from the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network (NSPN) underwent MRI scans at two specific time points and undertook evaluations of childhood maltreatment and recent life stress. The results showed that childhood abuse moderated the association of recent life stress with the within-network connectivity of ASN and ERN but not DMN and CEN. Furthermore, recent life stress significantly interacted with childhood abuse to be associated with the between-network connectivity of ASN-DMN, ASN-CEN, ASN-ERN, DMN-ERN and CEN-ERN. Overall, among youth exposed to higher degrees of childhood abuse, greater recent life stress was longitudinally associated with increased network connectivity. Understanding these interactions can provide valuable insights for developing prevention strategies and interventions aimed at mitigating the lasting impact of childhood maltreatment on brain development and overall well-being.

The present study employed the cross‐lagged panel model and the random intercepts cross‐lagged panel model to investigate the longitudinal association between deviant peer affiliation and externalizing behavior in Chinese preadolescents. A sample of 1987 students, comprising 56.10% male participants with a mean age of 12.32 years (SD = 0.53), from Guangdong and Shandong provinces, completed the Deviant Peer Affiliation Scale and the Externalizing Behavior Scale in biannual surveys. The surveys were conducted in the autumn semester of 7th grade, the spring semester of 7th grade, and the autumn semester of 8th grade. The cross‐lagged panel model illustrated a bidirectional association between adolescents' involvement with deviant peers and externalizing behavior. Conversely, the random intercepts cross‐lagged panel model indicated a positive association between deviant peer affiliation and externalizing behavior at the between‐person level. At the within‐person level, a significant predictive correlation was identified between the association with deviant peers and subsequent externalizing behavior, whereas the reverse pathway was determined to be statistically insignificant. To comprehend the connection between deviant peer association and externalizing behavior in preadolescence, it is essential to differentiate between between‐person and within‐person effects and utilize a sophisticated research methodology.

Unraveling the neurobiological foundations of childhood maltreatment is important due to the persistent associations with adverse mental health outcomes. However, the mechanisms through which abuse and neglect disturb resting-state network connectivity remain elusive. Moreover, it remains unclear if positive parenting can mitigate the negative impact of childhood maltreatment on network connectivity. We analyzed a cohort of 194 adolescents and young adults (aged 14–25, 47.42% female) from the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network (NSPN) to investigate the impact of childhood abuse and neglect on resting-state network connectivity. Specifically, we examined the SAN, DMN, FPN, DAN, and VAN over time. We also explored the moderating role of positive parenting. The results showed that childhood abuse was linked to stronger connectivity within the SAN and VAN, as well as between the DMN-DAN, DMN-VAN, DMN-SAN, SAN-DAN, FPN-DAN, SAN-VAN, and VAN-DAN networks about 18 months later. Positive parenting during childhood buffered the negative impact of childhood abuse on network connectivity. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the protective effect of positive parenting on network connectivity following childhood abuse. These findings not only highlight the importance of positive parenting but also lead to a better understanding of the neurobiology and resilience mechanisms of childhood maltreatment.

Background: Childhood adversity is associated with abnormalities in brain structure, but this association has not been tested for childhood unpredictability, one form of adversity. We studied whether abnormalities in gray matter volume (GMV) could be a mechanism linking childhood unpredictability and psychopathology, over and above the effect of childhood trauma. Methods: Participants were 158 right-handed healthy young adults (aged 17-28 years, M = 22.07, s.d. = 2.08; 66.46% female) who underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging measurements and provided retrospective reports of childhood unpredictability. The anxiety and depression subscales of the self-report Brief Symptom Inventory-53 were used to index psychopathology. Results: Whole-brain voxel-based morphometric analyses showed that after controlling for the effect of childhood trauma, childhood unpredictability was correlated with greater GMV in bilateral frontal pole, bilateral precuneus, bilateral postcentral gyrus, right hemisphere of fusiform, and lingual gyrus, and left hemisphere of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex as well as occipital gyrus. Greater GMV in bilateral frontal pole, bilateral precuneus, and bilateral postcentral gyrus mediated associations between unpredictability and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Conclusions: The findings suggest that childhood unpredictability could exact unique effects on neural development, over and above the effect of childhood trauma. These findings are relevant for understanding the occurrence of psychopathology following childhood unpredictability and have implications for intervention.

Background: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a highly serious public health problem among adolescents in China, and childhood emotional maltreatment has been found to be a risk factor for NSSI. Objective: Little is known about the longitudinal association between childhood emotional maltreatment and NSSI as well as its underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. Thus, we hypothesized whether sleep problems mediated the association between childhood emotional maltreatment and NSSI, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by rumination. Participants and setting: A total of 1987 Chinese adolescents (56.1 % males; ages 10 to 14, M = 12.32, SD = 0.53) completed self-report questionnaires regarding childhood emotional maltreatment, sleep problems, rumination non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in three waves. Methods: Structural equation model was used to test a moderated mediation model, with gender, age and socioeconomic status and baseline measures as covariates. Results: Childhood emotional maltreatment was significantly associated with NSSI, and this association was mediated by sleep problems. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that rumination intensified the relation between childhood emotional maltreatment and sleep problems as well as the relation between sleep problems and NSSI. Conclusions: Findings of this study demonstrate a relationship among childhood emotional maltreatment, sleep problems, rumination and NSSI. Interventions that target sleep problems and rumination may be beneficial for reducing NSSI for at-risk adolescents.

Background: Being the target of cyber victimization has been shown to be connected with several forms of maladjustment among adolescents. However, there is not a clear understanding of the impact of cyber victimization on Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU) and the potential mechanism underlying the association. The present study tested the longitudinal association between cyber victimization and adolescents' PMPU as well as the mediating role of sleep problems in this association. Methods: A sample of 1835 Chinese adolescents (55.9 % boys; Mage = 12.34) completed self-report questionnaires regarding cyber victimization, sleep problems and PMPU at four time points, using 6-month intervals. Gender, age and socioeconomic status were controlled for in the analyses. We tested cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) and random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) to separate between- and within-person effects, allowing a robust and rigorous test of relationships among variables. Results: As hypothesized, at the within-person level, cyber victimization was a predictive risk factor of later PMPU among adolescents, and sleep problems served as an explanatory mechanism by which cyber victimization predicted adolescents' PMPU over time. Conclusion: These findings contribute to identifying adolescents at risk for engaging in PMPU, as well as the prevention and intervention.

There are several effective self-report instruments used by Chinese researchers to retrospectively assess exposure to childhood maltreatment. However, these measures do not assess the timing of exposure, restricting efforts to identify periods of development when childhood maltreatment maximally increases vulnerability to psychopathology and health outcomes. In the current study we created a Chinese version of the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology of Exposure (MACE) scale, which assesses multiplicity (number of types of maltreatment experienced) and severity of maltreatment as well as when it occurred during childhood and adolescence. Rasch modeling was used for scale development in a sample of 812 undergraduate students. Item reduction analysis of the original 75 items produced a 58-item Chinese version with ten subdimensions. The new scale showed good three-week test-retest reliability, and good convergent validity with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the revised Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACEQ-R). Variance decomposition analyses found that compared to the CTQ and ACE, the MACE Severity and Multiplicity scores explained higher variance in self-reported depression and anxiety symptom ratings on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). The results of the present study confirmed that the Chinese version of the MACE has sound psychometric properties in the Chinese cultural context. This new instrument will be a valuable tool for Chinese researchers, psychiatrists and psychologists to ascertain the type and timing of exposure to maltreatment.