Air Pollution, Early Adversity, and Amygdala: Environmental Correlates of Psychopathology in Preadolescents
- 1University of Southern California
Abstract
Early life adversity (ELA) and ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are hypothesized to be environmental risk factors for altered brain structure and psychopathology, but their unique and interactive effects in childhood remain unclear. This study examines the interactive associations of ELA and annual average residential PM2.5 exposure (total mass and 15 components) on total amygdala and basolateral amygdala subregion volumes and psychopathology symptoms in a subset of children (N=3,601, 45% assigned female at birth, 9-10 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Linear mixed-effects models, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, co-pollutants, and neuroimaging covariates, showed that ELA was associated with greater bifactor model-defined general, specific internalizing, and specific externalizing symptoms of psychopathology. PM2.5 moderated ELA associations with specific externalizing symptoms, with greater symptoms in those exposed to higher ELA and higher PM2.5 exposures. Among youth with higher ELA, smaller basolateral paralaminar volumes were linked to greater general and specific externalizing symptoms. These findings underscore the importance of considering psychosocial and physical environmental co-exposures when identifying children at risk for psychopathology.
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BibTeX
@misc{giacco2026pollution,
title = {{Air Pollution, Early Adversity, and Amygdala: Environmental Correlates of Psychopathology in Preadolescents}},
author = {A. C. Del Giacco and M. A. Rosario and C. Cardenas-Iniguez and N. Chawla and A. Wen and K. Sukumaran and L. N. Overholtzer and J.-C. Chen and B. B. Lahey and T. M. Moore and M. Herting},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.31.748438},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748438v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Air Pollution, Early Adversity, and Amygdala: Environmental Correlates of Psychopathology in Preadolescents
AU - A. C. Del Giacco
AU - M. A. Rosario
AU - C. Cardenas-Iniguez
AU - N. Chawla
AU - A. Wen
AU - K. Sukumaran
AU - L. N. Overholtzer
AU - J.-C. Chen
AU - B. B. Lahey
AU - T. M. Moore
AU - M. Herting
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.31.748438
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748438v1
AB - Early life adversity (ELA) and ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are hypothesized to be environmental risk factors for altered brain structure and psychopathology, but their unique and interactive effects in childhood remain unclear. This study examines the interactive associations of ELA and annual average residential PM2.5 exposure (total mass and 15 components) on total amygdala and basolateral amygdala subregion volumes and psychopathology symptoms in a subset of children (N=3,601, 45% assigned female at birth, 9-10 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Linear mixed-effects models, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, co-pollutants, and neuroimaging covariates, showed that ELA was associated with greater bifactor model-defined general, specific internalizing, and specific externalizing symptoms of psychopathology. PM2.5 moderated ELA associations with specific externalizing symptoms, with greater symptoms in those exposed to higher ELA and higher PM2.5 exposures. Among youth with higher ELA, smaller basolateral paralaminar volumes were linked to greater general and specific externalizing symptoms. These findings underscore the importance of considering psychosocial and physical environmental co-exposures when identifying children at risk for psychopathology.
ER -