Psychological Development and Education ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (3): 357-366.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2024.03.06

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Childhood Emotional Neglect Experience and Undergraduates' Emotion Regulation Strategies: Preference and Its Brain Structure

WEI Shilin2, XU Bin2,4, YIN Xiaojuan2, ZHU Ziliang2, CHEN Juntao2, Jin Hua1,2,3   

  1. 1. Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387;
    2. Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387;
    3. Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin 300387;
    4. Student Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin 300547
  • Published:2024-05-15

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Abstract: Combined with questionnaire and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), this study aimed to explore the relationship between simple childhood emotional neglect, the use of emotion regulation strategies, and the underlying brain structure in undergraduates. 21 subjects in the neglect group who only experienced emotional neglect in childhood trauma and 26 subjects in the control group who hadn't experienced any childhood trauma completed questionnaires and sMRI scans. The results showed that the reappraisal strategy was used less frequently in the neglect group than in the control group, and there was no significant difference in the frequency of suppression strategy use between the two groups. The mean gray matter volume (GMV) of the right middle frontal gyrus in the neglect group was significantly smaller than that in the control group, and the mean gray matter volume in this area was significantly positively correlated with the frequency of reappraisal strategy use. Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) found that the gray matter voxel signal pattern of the right insula significantly predicted the frequency of reappraisal strategy use. The results suggest that childhood emotional neglect may be related to the changes of emotion regulation strategies, right middle frontal gyrus and insula in early adulthood.

Key words: childhood emotional neglect, emotion regulation strategies, gray matter volume, childhood trauma, emotion regulation

CLC Number: 

  • B844
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