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Emotional intelligence mediates the association between middle temporal gyrus gray matter volume and social anxiety in late adolescence

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Abstract

As a common mental health problem, social anxiety refers to the fear and avoidance of interacting in social or performance situations, which plays a crucial role in many health and social problems. Although a growing body of studies has explored the neuroanatomical alterations related to social anxiety in clinical patients, far fewer have examined the association between social anxiety and brain morphology in the general population, which may help us understand the neural underpinnings of social anxiety more comprehensively. Here, utilizing a voxel-based morphometry approach via structural magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated brain gray matter correlates of social anxiety in 231 recent graduates of the same high school grade. We found that social anxiety was positively associated with gray matter volume in the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), which is a core brain area for cognitive processing of emotions and feelings. Critically, emotional intelligence mediated the impact of right MTG volume on social anxiety. Notably, our results persisted even when controlling for the effects of general anxiety and depression. Altogether, our research reveals right MTG gray matter volume as a neurostructural correlate of social anxiety in a general sample of adolescents and suggests a potential indirect effect of emotional intelligence on the association between gray matter volume and social anxiety.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31800963, 81621003 and 81820108018), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT, Grant No. IRT16R52) of China, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M653421), and the Postdoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Project of Sichuan University. Dr. Gong would also like to acknowledge the support from his Changjiang Scholar Professorship Award (Award No. T2014190) of China and the American CMB Distinguished Professorship Award (Award No. F510000/G16916411) administered by the Institute of International Education, USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Song Wang, Nanfang Pan, Xueling Suo & Qiyong Gong

  2. Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China

    Song Wang, Nanfang Pan, Xueling Suo & Qiyong Gong

  3. Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Song Wang, Xiuli Wang & Qiyong Gong

  4. School of Education and Psychology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, China

    Yajun Zhao

  5. School of Public Affairs, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Xun Yang

  6. Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Bochao Cheng

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  1. Song Wang
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The study was approved by the local research ethics committee of West China Hospital, Sichuan University. All participants and their guardians gave their written informed consent before the experiments.

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Wang, S., Zhao, Y., Wang, X. et al. Emotional intelligence mediates the association between middle temporal gyrus gray matter volume and social anxiety in late adolescence. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 30, 1857–1869 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01651-z

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