Neuroanatomical signatures associated with dispositional optimism predict COVID-19-related posttraumatic stress symptoms

The COVID-19 pandemic has been increasingly documented to cause negative impacts on mental health outcomes, e.g. posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Dispositional optimism (optimism hereinafter), a crucial psychological characteristic defined by positive expectancies for future outcomes, is considered to provide remarkable protection against PTSS. Accordingly, this study was designed to identify neuroanatomical signatures of optimism and further examine the mechanism through which optimism protects against COVID-19-specific PTSS. Here, 115 volunteers from a general population of university students completed MRI scans and optimism tests before (October 2019-January 2020) and after (February-April 2020) the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis showed that a region from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) to the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was associated with optimism. Further seed-based structural covariance network (SCN) analysis using partial least-squares correlation found an optimism-linked SCN covarying with the combined dACC and dmPFC (the dACC-dmPFC). Additionally, mediation analyses revealed that the dACC-dmPFC volume and its SCN impacted COVID-19-specific PTSS through optimism. Our findings deepen the understanding of optimism and have the potential to identify vulnerable individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic or similar future events, as well as to guide optimism-related neural interventions to prevent and alleviate PTSS.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has negative impacts on mental health, and optimism plays a crucial role in protecting against posttraumatic stress symptoms. This study used MRI scans to identify neuroanatomical signatures of optimism and found that optimism protects against COVID-19-specific posttraumatic stress symptoms through specific brain regions.