Mind and gut: Associations between mood and gastrointestinal distress in children exposed to adversity
Open accessAbstract
Gastrointestinal and mental disorders are highly comorbid, and animal models have shown that both can be caused by early adversity (e.g., parental deprivation). Interactions between the brain and bacteria that live within the gastrointestinal system (the microbiome) underlie adversity–gastrointestinal–anxiety interactions, but these links have not been investigated during human development. In this study, we utilized data from a population of 344 youth (3–18 years old) who were raised with their biological parents or were exposed to early adverse caregiving experiences (i.e., institutional or foster care followed by international adoption) to explore adversity–gastrointestinal–anxiety associations. In Study 1, we demonstrated that previous adverse care experiences were associated with increased incidence of gastrointestinal symptoms in youth. Gastrointestinal symptoms were also associated with concurrent and future anxiety (measured across 5 years), and those gastrointestinal symptoms mediated the adversity–anxiety association at Time 1. In a subsample of children who provided both stool samples and functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain (Study 2, which was a “proof-of-principle”), adversity was associated with changes in diversity (both alpha and beta) of microbial communities, and bacteria levels (adversity-associated and adversity-independent) were correlated with prefrontal cortex activation to emotional faces. Implications of these data for supporting youth mental health are discussed.
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- Authors
- Callaghan, B. L., Fields, A., Gee, D. G., Gabard-Durnam, L., Caldera, C., Humphreys, K. L., Goff, B., Flannery, J., Telzer, E. H., Shapiro, M., & Tottenham, N.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Columbia University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- University of Oregon (US)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Callaghan, Bridget L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Development and Psychopathology
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2019-03-28
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 309-328
- ISSN
- 0954-5794 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-2198
- PMC
- PMC6765443
- OpenAlex
- W2930758073
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 9.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Development and Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- American Australian Association
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001863)
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council (1091571)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R00MH113821, R01MH091864, K99MH113821)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- childhood adversity, gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety, gut microbiota, microbiome-gut-brain axis, institutional care, foster care, international adoption, parental deprivation, prefrontal cortex, emotional face processing, microbial diversity, children and adolescents, youth mental health
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Affect, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Brain, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mental Health
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