Growing up in disadvantaged areas may blunt emotional response and play a role in depression risk
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Kids living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods showed weaker brain responses to both winning and losing.
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These blunted responses appeared only in children whose parents had a history of major depression.
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The study used household zip code data (to assess neighborhood disadvantage) and brain recordings (EEG) during a simple monetary task.
We often think about childhood adversity as something personal like trauma or family conflict. But it turns out your surroundings the neighborhood you grow up in can shape your brain too.
A recent study from Binghamton University shows that kids in more disadvantaged neighborhoods have quieter brain reactions to both rewards and losses. And if theres already a family history of depression, that quiet brain response may be a warning light.
One of my interests is how neural reward processing relates to risk for depression. One thing that we know that impacts that is exposure to stress, researcher Elana Israel said in a news release.
Prior research has looked at stress at the individual level people reporting on traumas theyve experienced or interpersonal stress but less research has looked at community-level stressors.
The study
Researchers recruited 224 children aged 711 and asked whether their parents had ever been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. They logged each child's home zip code to gather neighborhood metrics: the Area Deprivation Index, crime risk, and Child Opportunity Index. These measures capture how deprived or stressed a given neighborhood is.
Each child then completed a simple computer-based guessing game with real monetary gains or losses. While playing, their brain activity was recorded via EEG, focusing on a signal called the reward positivity (RewP) the brains response right after a win or loss.
When something good or bad happens to you, your brain responds and we can measure that brain activity, researcher Brandon Gibb said in the news release. And how you tend to respond to something good happening or something bad happening can increase your risk for things like depression.
The results
The key finding: higher neighborhood disadvantage was associated with more muted RewP responses but only in kids whose parents had a history of depression. In children whose parents had never experienced depression, neighborhood stress didnt affect their neural reactions.
That muted brain response may indicate difficulty emotionally engaging with good or bad outcomes a known risk factor for depression. The study suggests that neighborhood-level stress, beyond personal hardship, may contribute to changes in the way atrisk youth process emotions and rewards.
When youre chronically stressed, it could dampen your reaction to anything, whether it is good or bad, Gibb explained. We want kids to be reactive when good things are happening. You should be excited. Thats what gives you the motivation to engage and do things. So thats what we think is going on.
Posted: 2025-08-07 14:43:44
