Resilient functioning after childhood adversity is associated with altered structural brain network topology in adolescence

Abstract

Childhood adversity is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent mental illness. Therefore, it is critical that the mechanisms that aid resilient functioning after childhood adversity are better understood. Here, we examined whether resilient functioning was related to structural brain network topology. We quantified resilient functioning at the individual level as psychosocial functioning adjusted for the severity of childhood adversity in a large sample of adolescents (N=2406, aged 14-24). Next, we examined nodal degree (the number of connections that brain regions have in a network) using brain-wide cortical thickness measures in a representative subset (N=275) using a sliding window approach. We found that increases in resilient functioning were convergently associated with decreases in nodal degree of multiple regions including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (z > 1.645). During adolescence, decreases in nodal degree are thought to reflect a normative developmental process that is part of the extensive remodelling of structural brain network topology. Therefore, our findings of reductions in nodal degree being related to increases in resilient functioning are compatible with more mature-like structural network topology in more resilient young people.