Developmental outcomes of early adverse care on amygdala functional connectivity in nonhuman primates

Despite the strong link between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology, the underlying neurodevelopmental mechanisms are poorly understood and difficult to disentangle from heritable and prenatal factors. This study used a translational macaque model of infant maltreatment in which the adverse experience occurs in the first months of life, during intense maturation of amygdala circuits important for stress and emotional regulation. Thus, we examined the developmental impact of maltreatment on amygdala functional connectivity (FC) longitudinally, from infancy through the juvenile period. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) we performed amygdala–prefrontal cortex (PFC) region-of-interest and exploratory whole-brain amygdala FC analyses. The latter showed (a) developmental increases in amygdala FC with many regions, likely supporting increased processing of socioemotional-relevant stimuli with age; and (b) maltreatment effects on amygdala coupling with arousal and stress brain regions (locus coeruleus, laterodorsal tegmental area) that emerged with age. Maltreated juveniles showed weaker FC than controls, which was negatively associated with infant hair cortisol concentrations. Findings from the region-of-interest analysis also showed weaker amygdala FC with PFC regions in maltreated animals than controls since infancy, whereas bilateral amygdala FC was stronger in maltreated animals. These effects on amygdala FC development may underlie the poor behavioral outcomes associated with this adverse experience.

Students' Understanding of Bullying: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice

Social workers are expected to address a range of adverse and traumatic experiences among youths. One common, adverse experience is exposure to bullying. However, the degree to which schools of social work address bullying and thus prepare students to effectively intervene has yet to be investigated. Using a sample of 146 BSW students, the purpose of the present study was to describe students' exposure to content specific to traditional and cyberbullying and their general knowledge and perceptions of these issues and to explore students' reported self-efficacy to intervene and their preparedness to address bullying in their practice with youths and their families. Results revealed several notable trends. Overall, students reported little exposure to bullying-related content and only moderate levels of self-efficacy and preparedness to intervene. Implications for baccalaureate social work education are discussed in the context of enhancing bullying-related content, including exposure to efficacious prevention and intervention strategies.