Timing‐specific associations between income‐to‐needs ratio and hippocampal and amygdala volumes in middle childhood: A preliminary study
Bruce Ramphala b, David Pagliaccioa b, Jordan D. Dworkina b, Julie Beth Herbstmanc d, Kimberly G. Noblee f, Amy E. Margolisa b✉
- aNew York State Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University New York New York USA
- bNew York State Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
- cDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University New York New York USA
- dDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
- eDepartment of Biobehavioral Sciences Teachers College Columbia University New York New York USA
- fDepartment of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
It is well known that financial disadvantage is associated with alterations in brain development in regions critical to socioemotional well-being such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. Yet little is known about whether family income at different points in development is differentially associated with these structures. Furthermore, little is known about which environmental factors statistically mediate associations between income and subcortical structure. Using a longitudinal birth cohort and linear mixed-effects models, we identified associations between income-to-needs ratio (INR) at 6 timepoints throughout childhood and hippocampal and amygdala volumes at age 7-9 years (n = 41; 236 INR measurements; 41 brain measurements). Mediation analysis identified environmental sequelae of income that statistically accounted for INR-brain associations. Lower INR prior to age 4 was associated with smaller hippocampal volumes, whereas lower INR prior to age 2 was associated with smaller right amygdala volume. These associations were mediated by unmet basic needs (e.g., food, housing). These findings delineate the temporal specificity of associations between income and hippocampal and amygdala structures.
TL;DRAssociations between income-to-needs ratio (INR) at 6 timepoints throughout childhood and hippocampal and amygdala volumes at age 7-9 years are identified and delineate the temporal specificity of associations between income and hippocampa and amygdala structures. (Semantic Scholar)