What is the association of an adverse environment, including low socioeconomic status
and traumatic stressful events, with psychopathology, neurocognition, and brain parameters
in puberty among children and young adults? In this community-based cohort study of
9498 participants, low socioeconomic status was associated with reduced neurocognitive
performance, and experiencing a higher number of traumatic stressful events was associated
with greater psychopathology. Both factors were associated with multiple brain structural
and functional parameters as well as earlier maturation. Low socioeconomic status
and the experience of traumatic stressful events are environmental aspects that appear
to have common and unique associations with the brain and behavior, and both are associated
with accelerated maturation. This community-based cohort study compares the association
of low socioeconomic status and traumatic stressful events with psychopathology, puberty,
neurocognition, and multimodal neuroimaging parameters in brain maturation among children
and young adults. Low socioeconomic status (L-SES) and the experience of traumatic
stressful events (TSEs) are environmental factors implicated in behavioral deficits,
abnormalities in brain development, and accelerated maturation. However, the relative
contribution of these environmental factors is understudied. To compare the association
of L-SES and TSEs with psychopathology, puberty, neurocognition, and multimodal neuroimaging
parameters in brain maturation. The Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort is a community-based
study examining psychopathology, neurocognition, and neuroimaging among participants
recruited through the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pediatric network. Participants
are youths aged 8 to 21 years at enrollment with stable health and fluency in English.
The sample of 9498 participants was racially (5298 European ancestry [55.8%], 3124
African ancestry [32.9%], and 1076 other [11.4%]) and economically diverse. A randomly
selected subsample (n = 1601) underwent multimodal neuroimaging. Data were collected
from November 5, 2009, through December 30, 2011, and analyzed from February 1 through
November 7, 2018. The following domains were examined: (1) clinical, including psychopathology,
assessed with a structured interview based on the Schedule for Affective Disorders
and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, and puberty, assessed with the Tanner scale;
(2) neurocognition, assessed by the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery; and
(3) multimodal magnetic resonance imaging parameters of brain structure and function.
A total of 9498 participants were included in the analysis (4906 [51.7%] female; mean
[SD] age, 14.2 [3.7] years). Clinically, L-SES and TSEs were associated with greater
severity of psychiatric symptoms across the psychopathology domains of anxiety/depression,
fear, externalizing behavior, and the psychosis spectrum. Low SES showed small effect
sizes (highest for externalizing behavior, 0.306 SD; 95% CI, 0.269 to 0.342), whereas
TSEs had large effect sizes, with the highest in females for anxiety/depression (1.228
SD; 95% CI, 1.156 to 1.300) and in males for the psychosis spectrum (1.099 SD; 95%
CI, 1.032 to 1.166). Both were associated with early puberty. Cognitively, L-SES had
moderate effect sizes on poorer performance, the greatest being on complex cognition
(−0.500 SD 95% CI, −0.536 to −0.464), whereas TSEs were associated with slightly better
memory (0.129 SD; 95% CI, 0.084 to 0.174) and poorer complex reasoning (−0.109 SD;
95% CI, −0.154 to −0.064). Environmental factors had common and distinct associations
with brain structure and function. Structurally, both were associated with lower volume,
but L-SES had correspondingly lower gray matter density, whereas TSEs were associated
with higher gray matter density. Functionally, both were associated with lower regional
cerebral blood flow and coherence and with accelerated brain maturation. Low SES and
TSEs are associated with common and unique differences in symptoms, neurocognition,
and structural and functional brain parameters. Both environmental factors are associated
with earlier completion of puberty by physical features and brain parameters. These
findings appear to underscore the need for identifying and preventing adverse environmental
conditions associated with neurodevelopment.