Childhood abuse leaves a scar on the brain, a new neuroimaging study led by UCLA psychologists has shown. The researchers found associations between the severity of different maltreatment exposures and cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volume based on MRI images of individuals.
The effect was more pronounced in young women than in men or in children. The study is the largest of its kind to examine the neurobiological legacy of childhood maltreatment across a diverse, global sample of people.