The inferior frontal gyrus spontaneous activity mediates the association of early life adversity with self-control ability in late adolescents

Self-control, the ability to regulate prepotent desires or impulses in order to realize one's valued goal, has been found to be associated with early life adversity. However, the neural correlates underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. The present study employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate this issue among late adolescents (N = 538). Results showed that family unpredictability rather than family harshness of early life adversity was negatively correlated with self-control ability. The whole brain analysis showed that self-control was associated with enhanced ALFF in the right middle and inferior frontal gyrus, the left anterior insula, and with decreased ALFF in the left precuneus. Moreover, the mediating analysis showed that ALFF in the inferior frontal gyrus could partially mediated the association of family unpredictability with self-control ability. These findings suggested that the brain regions implicating in executive control might be the neural correlates underlying the relationship between early life adversity and self-control ability, which advances the mechanistic understanding of how early family environment relates to the development of self-regulation in late adolescence.

Automated summary

This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the relationship between self-control ability and early life adversity. The results showed that family unpredictability, rather than family harshness, was negatively correlated with self-control ability. The whole brain analysis revealed that self-control was associated with increased ALFF in the right middle and inferior frontal gyrus, as well as the left anterior insula, and decreased ALFF in the left precuneus. The mediating analysis further indicated that ALFF in the inferior frontal gyrus partially mediated the association between family unpredictability and self-control ability. These findings advance our understanding of the neural correlates underlying the relationship between early life adversity and self-control ability.