Brain structural correlates of upward social mobility in ethnic minority individuals
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Date
2022Author
Schweiger, Janina I.Çapraz, Necip
Akdeniz, Ceren
Braun, Urs
Ebalu, Tracie
Moessnang, Carolin
Berhe, Oksana
Zang, Zhenxiang
Schwarz, Emanuel
Bilek, Edda
Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas
Tost, Heike
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Show full item recordAbstract
Purpose Perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) is a neural convergence site for social stress-related risk factors for
mental health, including ethnic minority status. Current social status, a strong predictor of mental and somatic health, has
been related to gray matter volume in this region, but the efects of social mobility over the lifespan are unknown and may
difer in minorities. Recent studies suggest a diminished health return of upward social mobility for ethnic minority individuals, potentially due to sustained stress-associated experiences and subsequent activation of the neural stress response system.
Methods To address this issue, we studied an ethnic minority sample with strong upward social mobility. In a cross-sectional
design, we examined 64 young adult native German and 76 ethnic minority individuals with comparable sociodemographic
attributes using whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging.
Results Results showed a signifcant group-dependent interaction between perceived upward social mobility and pACC
gray matter volume, with a signifcant negative association in the ethnic minority individuals. Post-hoc analysis showed a
signifcant mediation of the relationship between perceived upward social mobility and pACC volume by perceived chronic
stress, a variable that was signifcantly correlated with perceived discrimination in our ethnic minority group.
Conclusion Our fndings extend prior work by pointing to a biological signature of the “allostatic costs” of socioeconomic
attainment in socially disadvantaged upwardly mobile individuals in a key neural node implicated in the regulation of stress
and negative afect.
Volume
57Collections
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