Abstract
Despite a growing understanding that early adversity in childhood broadly affects risk for psychopathology, the contribution of stressful life events to the development of symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not clear. In the present study, we examined the association between number of stressful life events experienced and ADHD symptoms, assessed using the Attention Problems subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist, in a sample of 214 children (43% male) ages 9.11–13.98 years (M = 11.38, SD = 1.05). In addition, we examined whether the timing of the events (i.e., onset through age 5 years or after age 6 years) was associated with ADHD symptoms. Finally, we examined variation in brain structure to determine whether stressful life events were associated with volume in brain regions that were found to vary as a function of symptoms of ADHD. We found a small to moderate association between number of stressful life events and ADHD symptoms. Although the strength of the associations between number of events and ADHD symptoms did not differ as a function of the age of occurrence of stressful experiences, different brain regions were implicated in the association between stressors and ADHD symptoms in the two age periods during which stressful life events occurred. These findings support the hypothesis that early adversity is associated with ADHD symptoms, and provide insight into possible brain-based mediators of this association.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenbach. (1991). Integrative guide to the 1991 CBCL 4–18, YSR, and TRF profiled. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.
Adler, L. a., Kunz, M., Chua, H. C., Rotrosen, J., & Resnick, S. G. (2004). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adult patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Is ADHD a vulnerability factor? Journal of Attention Disorders, 8(1), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/108705470400800102.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Association.
Andersen, S. L., Tomada, A., Vincow, E. S., Valente, E., Polcari, A., & Teicher, M. H. (2008). Preliminary evidence for sensitive periods in the effect of childhood sexual abuse on regional brain development. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 20(3), 292–301. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.20.3.292.
Avants, B. B., Epstein, C. L., Grossman, M., & Gee, J. C. (2008). Symmetric diffeomorphic image registration with cross-correlation: Evaluating automated labeling of elderly and neurodegenerative brain. Medical Image Analysis, 12(1), 26–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.media.2007.06.004.
Avants, B. B., Tustison, N. J., Song, G., Cook, P. A., Klein, A., & Gee, J. C. (2011). A reproducible evaluation of ANTs similarity metric performance in brain image registration. NeuroImage, 54(3), 2033–2044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.09.025.
Biederman, J., Mick, E., Faraone, S. V., Braaten, E., Doyle, A., Spencer, T., Wilens, T. E., Frazier, E., & Johnson, M. A. (2002). Influence of gender on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children referred to a psychiatric clinic. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(1), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.1.36.
Bookstein, F. L. (2001). “Voxel-based morphometry” should not be used with imperfectly registered images. NeuroImage, 14(6), 1454–1462. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0770.
Braun, J. M., Kahn, R. S., Froehlich, T., Auinger, P., & Lanphear, B. P. (2006). Exposures to environmental toxicants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in U.S. children. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(12), 1904–1909. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.9478.
Brewin, C. R., Andrews, B., & Gotlib, I. H. (1993). Psychopathology and early experience: A reappraisal of retrospective reports. Psychological Bulletin, 113(1), 82–98. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.113.1.82.
Brown, G. W., Craig, T. K. J., Harris, T. O., Handley, R. V., & Harvey, A. L. (2007). Validity of retrospective measures of early maltreatment and depressive episodes using the childhood experience of care and abuse (CECA) instrument - a life-course study of adult chronic depression - 2. Journal of Affective Disorders, 103(1–3), 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2007.06.003.
Chen, W. J., Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., & Tsuang, M. T. (1994). Diagnostic accuracy of the child behavior checklist scales for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A receiver-operating characteristic analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 1017–1025. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.62.5.1017.
Chiang, M. C., Reiss, A. L., Lee, A. D., Bellugi, U., Galaburda, A. M., Korenberg, J. R., Mills, D. L., Toga, A. W., & Thompson, P. M. (2007). 3D pattern of brain abnormalities in Williams syndrome visualized using tensor-based morphometry. NeuroImage, 36(4), 1096–1109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.04.024.
Daud, A., & Rydelius, P.-A. (2009). Comorbidity/overlapping between ADHD and PTSD in relation to IQ among children of traumatized/non-traumatized parents. Journal of Attention Disorders, 13(2), 188–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054708326271.
Davatzikos, C. (1996). Spatial normalization of 3D brain images using deformable models. Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, 20(4), 656–665. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004728-199607000-00031.
De Bellis, M. D., Keshavan, M. S., Frustaci, K., Shifflett, H., Iyengar, S., Beers, S. R., & Hall, J. (2002). Superior temporal gyrus volumes in maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD. Biological Psychiatry, 51(7), 544–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(01)01374-9.
De Brito, S. A., Viding, E., Sebastian, C. L., Kelly, P. A., Mechelli, A., Maris, H., & McCrory, E. J. (2013). Reduced orbitofrontal and temporal grey matter in a community sample of maltreated children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(1), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02597.x.
Dennis, E. L., Faskowitz, J., Rashid, F., Babikian, T., Mink, R., Babbitt, C., Johnson, J., Giza, C. C., Jahanshad, N., Thompson, P. M., & Asarnow, R. F. (2017). Diverging volumetric trajectories following pediatric traumatic brain injury. NeuroImage: Clinical, 15, 125–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2017.03.014.
Evans, G. W., Li, D., & Whipple, S. S. (2013). Cumulative risk and child development. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 1342–1396. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031808.
Fair, D. A., Bathula, D., Nikolas, M. A., & Nigg, J. T. (2012). Distinct neuropsychological subgroups in typically developing youth inform heterogeneity in children with ADHD. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(17), 6769–6774. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1115365109.
Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., & Milberger, S. (1995). How reliable are maternal reports of their children’s psychopathology? One-year recall of psychiatric diagnoses of ADHD children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34(8), 1001–1008. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199508000-00009.
Faraone, S. V., Perlis, R.H., Doyle, A. E., Smoller, J. W., Goralnick, J. J., Holmgren, M.A., Sklar, P. (2005). Molecular genetics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry 57, 1313–1323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.11.024.
Fuller-Thomson, E., & Lewis, D. A. (2015). The relationship between early adversities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Child Abuse and Neglect, 47, 94–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.03.005.
Garzon, D. L., Huang, H., & Todd, R. D. (2008). Do attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder influence preschool unintentional injury risk? Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 22, 288–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2007.12.006.
Giedd, J. N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., Paus, T., Evans, A. C., & Rapoport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 861–863. https://doi.org/10.1038/13158.
Gogtay, N., Giedd, J. N., Lusk, L., Hayashi, K. M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzis, a. C., et al. (2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(21), 8174–8179. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0402680101.
Goodale, M. A., & Milner, A. D. (1992). Separate visual pathways for perception and action. Trends in Neurosciences, 15, 20–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(92)90344-8.
Green, J. G., McLaughlin, K. A., Berglund, P. A., Gruber, M. J., Sampson, N. A., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Childhood adversities and adult psychopathology in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) I: Associations with first onset of DSM-IV disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(2), 113–123. https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.186.
Hanson, J. L., Chung, M. K., Avants, B. B., Shirtcliff, E. a., Gee, J. C., Davidson, R. J., & Pollak, S. D. (2010). Early stress is associated with alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex: A tensor-based morphometry investigation of brain structure and behavioral risk. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(22), 7466–7472. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0859-10.2010.
Hanson, J. L., Chung, M. K., Avants, B. B., Rudolph, K. D., Shirtcliff, E. A., Gee, J. C., Davidson, R. J., & Pollak, S. D. (2012). Structural variations in prefrontal cortex mediate the relationship between early childhood stress and spatial working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(23), 7917–7925. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0307-12.2012.
Harold, G. T., Leve, L. D., Barrett, D., Elam, K., Neiderhiser, J. M., Natsuaki, M. N., Shaw, D. S., Reiss, D., & Thapar, A. (2013). Biological and rearing mother influences on child ADHD symptoms: Revisiting the developmental interface between nature and nurture. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(10), 1038–1046. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12100.
Helzer, J. E., Kraemer, H. C., & Krueger, R. F. (2006). The feasibility and need for dimensional psychiatric diagnoses. Psychological Medicine, 36(12), 1671–1680. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329170600821X.
Howard, M. A., Volkov, I. O., Mirsky, R., Garell, P. C., Noh, M. D., Granner, M., Damasio, H., Steinschneider, M., Reale, R. A., Hind, J. E., & Brugge, J. F. (2000). Auditory cortex on the human posterior superior temporal gyrus. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 416, 79–92. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(20000103)416:1<79::AID-CNE6>3.0.CO;2-2.
Hua, X., Leow, A. D., Parikshak, N., Lee, S., Chiang, M. C., Toga, A. W., et al. (2008). Tensor-based morphometry as a neuroimaging biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease: An MRI study of 676 AD, MCI, and normal subjects. NeuroImage, 43(3), 458–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.07.013.
Hua, X., Leow, A. D., Levitt, J. G., Caplan, R., Thompson, P. M., & Toga, A. W. (2009). Detecting brain growth patterns in normal children using tensor-based morphometry. Human Brain Mapping, 30(1), 209–219. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20498.
Hua, X., Thompson, P. M., Leow, A. D., Madsen, S. K., Caplan, R., Alger, J. R., O'Neill, J., Joshi, K., Smalley, S. L., Toga, A. W., & Levitt, J. G. (2013). Brain growth rate abnormalities visualized in adolescents with autism. Human Brain Mapping, 34(2), 425–436. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.21441.
Humphreys, K. L., & Lee, S. S. (2011). Risk taking and sensitivity to punishment in children with ADHD, ODD, ADHD+ODD, and controls. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 33(3), 299–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-011-9237-6.
Humphreys, K. L., & Zeanah, C. H. (2015). Deviations from the expectable environment in early childhood and emerging psychopathology. Neuropsychopharmacology, 40(1), 154–170. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.165.
Humphreys, K. L., Gleason, M. M., Drury, S. S., Miron, D., Zeanah, C. H., Humphreys, K. L., et al. (2015). Effects of institutional rearing and foster care on psychopathology at age 12 years in Romania: Follow-up of an open, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Psychiatry, 2(7), 625–634. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00095-4.
Kim, J., Avants, B., Patel, S., Whyte, J., Coslett, B. H., Pluta, J., Detre, J. A., & Gee, J. C. (2008). Structural consequences of diffuse traumatic brain injury: A large deformation tensor-based morphometry study. NeuroImage, 39(3), 1014–1026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.10.005.
Kochunov, P., Williamson, D. E., Lancaster, J., Fox, P., Cornell, J., Blangero, J., & Glahn, D. C. (2012). Fractional anisotropy of water diffusion in cerebral white matter across the lifespan. Neurobiology of Aging, 33(1), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.01.014.
Kustanovich, V., Ishii, J., Crawford, L., Yang, M., Mcgough, J. J., Mccracken, J. T., & Smalley, S. L. (2004). Transmission disequilibrium testing of dopamine-related candidate gene polymorphisms in ADHD: Confirmation of association of ADHD with DRD4 and DRD5. Molecular Psychiatry, 9, 711–717. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001466.
Langers, D. R., Jansen, J. F., & Backes, W. H. (2007). Enhanced signal detection in neuroimaging by means of regional control of the global false discovery rate. NeuroImage, 38(1), 43–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.07.031.
Langevin, L. M., Macmaster, F. P., & Dewey, D. (2015). Distinct patterns of cortical thinning in concurrent motor and attention disorders. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 57(3), 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.12561.
Lee, I. A., & Preacher, K. J. (2013). Calculation for the test of the difference between two dependent correlations with one variable in common. http://quantpsy.org/corrtest/corrtest2.htm
Lee, S. S., Lahey, B. B., Owens, E. B., & Hinshaw, S. P. (2008). Few preschool boys and girls with ADHD are well-adjusted during adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9184-6.
Lee, S. S., Humphreys, K. L., Flory, K., Liu, R., & Glass, K. (2011). Prospective association of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use and abuse/dependence: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 328–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2011.01.006.
Lenroot, R. K., Gogtay, N., Greenstein, D. K., Wells, E. M., Wallace, G. L., Clasen, L. S., et al. (2007). Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence. NeuroImage, 36(4), 1065–1073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.06.001.
Leporé, N., Brun, C., Pennec, X., Chou, Y., Lopez, O., Aizenstein, H., Becker, J., Toga, A., & Thompson, P. (2007, October). Mean template for tensor-based morphometry using deformation tensors. In International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention. Brisbane, Australia.
Lim, L., Radua, J., & Rubia, K. (2014). Gray matter abnormalities in childhood maltreatment: A voxel-wise meta-analysis. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 171 VN-(8), 854–863. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.13101427.
Linnet, K. M., Dalsgaard, S., Obel, C., Wisborg, K., Henriksen, T. B., Rodriguez, A., Kotimaa, A., Moilanen, I., Thomsen, P. H., Olsen, J., & Jarvelin, M.-R. (2003). Maternal lifestyle factors in pregnancy risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and associated behaviors: Review of the current evidence. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(6), 1028–1040. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.6.1028.
Marcus, D. K., & Barry, T. D. (2011). Does attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a dimensional latent structure? A taxometric analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(2), 427–442. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021405.
McLaughlin, K. A., Sheridan, M. A., Winter, W., Fox, N. A., Zeanah, C. H., & Nelson, C. A. (2014). Widespread reductions in cortical thickness following severe early-life deprivation: A neurodevelopmental pathway to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 76, 629–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.08.016.
Morris, N. M., & Udry, J. R. (1980). Validation of a self-administered instrument to assess stage of adolescent development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 9, 271–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088471.
Nikolas, M. A., & Burt, S. A. (2010). Genetic and environmental influences on ADHD symptom dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity: A meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018010.
Norman, L. J., Carlisi, C., Lukito, S., Hart, H., Mataix-Cols, D., Radua, J., & Rubia, K. (2016). Structural and functional brain abnormalities in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(8), 815–825. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0700.
Nyman, E. S., Ogdie, M. N., Loukola, A., Varilo, T., Taanila, A., Hurtig, T., et al. (2007). ADHD candidate gene study in a population-based birth cohort: Association with DBH and DRD2. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46(12), 1614–1621. https://doi.org/10.1097/chi.0b013e3181579682.
Owens, E. B., Hinshaw, S. P., Lee, S. S., & Lahey, B. B. (2009). Few girls with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder show positive adjustment during adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38, 132–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374410802575313.
Park, S., Lee, J. M., Kim, J. W., Kwon, H., Cho, S. C., Han, D. H., Cheong, J. H., & Kim, B. N. (2016). Increased white matter connectivity in traumatized children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 247, 57–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.09.012.
Pavuluri, M. N., Yang, S., Kamineni, K., Passarotti, A. M., Srinivasan, G., Harral, E. M., Sweeney, J. A., & Zhou, X. J. (2009). Diffusion tensor imaging study of white matter fiber tracts in pediatric bipolar disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 65(7), 586–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.10.015.
Pechtel, P., & Pizzagalli, D. A. (2011). Effects of early life stress on cognitive and affective function: An integrated review of human literature. Psychopharmacology, 214, 55–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-2009-2.
Pechtel, P., Lyons-Ruth, K., Anderson, C. M., & Teicher, M. H. (2014). Sensitive periods of amygdala development: The role of maltreatment in preadolescence. NeuroImage, 97, 236–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.025.
Polanczyk, G., de Lima, M. S., Horta, B. L., Biederman, J., & Rohde, L. A. (2007). The worldwide prevalence of ADHD: A systematic review and metaregression analysis. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(6), 942–948. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.164.6.942.
Qiu, M., Ye, Z., Li, Q.-Y., Liu, G., Xie, B., Wang, J., et al. (2011). Changes of brain structure and function in ADHD children. Brain Topography, 24(3–4), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-010-0168-4.
Ribbe, D. (1996). Psychometric review of Traumatic Event Screening Instrument for Children (TESI-C). In B. H. Stamm (Ed.), Measurement of stress, trauma, and adaptation (pp. 386–387). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press.
Rudolph, K. D., & Hammen, C. (1999). Age and gender as determinants of stress exposure, generation, and reactions in youngsters: A transactional perspective. Child Development, 70(3), 660–677. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00048.
Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Lindberg, N., Herzberg, D., & Daley, S. E. (2000). Toward an interpersonal life-stress model of depression: The developmental context of stress generation. Development and Psychopathology, 12(2), 215–234. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400002066.
Scahill, L., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2000). Epidemiology of ADHD in school-age children. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 9(3), 541–555.
Shaw, P., Lerch, J., Greenstein, D., Sharp, W., Clasen, L., Evans, A., Giedd, J., Castellanos, F. X., & Rapoport, J. (2006). Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and clinical outcome in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 540–549. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.63.5.540.
Shaw, P., Eckstrand, K., Sharp, W., Blumenthal, J., Lerch, J. P., Greenstein, D., Clasen, L., Evans, A., Giedd, J., & Rapoport, J. L. (2007). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is characterized by a delay in cortical maturation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(49), 19649–19654. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0707741104.
Silk, T. J., Vance, A., Rinehart, N., Bradshaw, J. L., & Cunnington, R. (2009). White-matter abnormalities in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A diffusion tensor imaging study. Human Brain Mapping, 30(9), 2757–2765. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20703.
Stevens, S. E., Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Kreppner, J. M., Beckett, C., Castle, J., Colvert, E., Groothues, C., Hawkins, A., & Rutter, M. (2008). Inattention/overactivity following early severe institutional deprivation: Presentation and associations in early adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36(3), 385–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9185-5.
Teicher, M. H. (2008). Stress, sensitive periods and maturational events in adolescent depression. Trends in Neurosciences, 31, 183–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2008.01.004.
Thapar, A., Fowler, T., Rice, F., Scourfield, J., van den Bree, M., Thomas, H., Harold, G., & Hay, D. (2003). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in offspring. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(11), 1985–1989. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1985.
Thompson, P. M., Giedd, J. N., Woods, R. P., MacDonald, D., Evans, A. C., & Toga, A. W. (2000). Growth patterns in the developing brain detected by using continuum mechanical tensor maps. Nature, 404(6774), 190–193. https://doi.org/10.1038/35004593.
Tibu, F., Humphreys, K. L., Fox, N. A., Nelson, C. A., & Zeanah, C. H. (2014). Psychopathology in young children in two types of foster care following institutional rearing. Infant Mental Health Journal, 35(2), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21428.
Tomoda, A., Sheu, Y. S., Rabi, K., Suzuki, H., Navalta, C. P., Polcari, A., & Teicher, M. H. (2011). Exposure to parental verbal abuse is associated with increased gray matter volume in superior temporal gyrus. NeuroImage, 54(SUPPL. 1), S280–S286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.027.
Wåhlstedt, C., Thorell, L. B., & Bohlin, G. (2009). Heterogeneity in ADHD: Neuropsychological pathways, comorbidity and symptom domains. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37(4), 551–564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-008-9286-9.
Wozniak, J., Crawford, M. H., Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Spencer, T. J., Taylor, A., & Blier, H. K. (1999). Antecedents and complications of trauma in boys with ADHD: Findings from a longitudinal study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(1), 48–55. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199901000-00019.
Zeanah, C. H., & Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S. (2016). Editorial: The effects of early trauma and deprivation on human development - from measuring cumulative risk to characterizing specific mechanisms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(10), 1099–1102. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12642.
Zeanah, C. H., Egger, H. L., Smyke, A. T., Nelson, C. A., Fox, N. A., Marshall, P. J., & Guthrie, D. (2009). Institutional rearing and psychiatric disorders in Romanian preschool children. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(7), 777–785. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.08091438.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health (U54 EB020403, R01 AG040060, and R01 NS080655 (PMT); R37 MH101495 (IHG); K99 NS096116 (ELD); and F32 MH107129 (KLH)); the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (Young Investigator Award 23819; KLH); the National Science Foundation (LSK); the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation (KLH), and the Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship (KLH). The authors thank Lucinda Sisk and Anna Cichocki for their assistance in data collection and processing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors report no possible conflicts of interest
Ethical Approval
This study was approved by the Stanford University 124 Institutional Review Board.
Informed Consent
Eligible families were invited to 148 visit the lab at Stanford to sign consent and assent forms as well 149 as to complete interviews and questionnaires about the child 150 and family.
Electronic supplementary material
Supplemental Table 1
(DOCX 17 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Humphreys, K.L., Watts, E.L., Dennis, E.L. et al. Stressful Life Events, ADHD Symptoms, and Brain Structure in Early Adolescence. J Abnorm Child Psychol 47, 421–432 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0443-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0443-5