Jun 17, 2026 08:47 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1132161
INTRO: Carnegie Mellon University and University of California, San Francisco researchers found that childhood trauma, poverty, social isolation and other adverse life experiences are associated with brain changes linked to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders — findings that could help researchers identify people at risk earlier and develop interventions before severe symptoms emerge.
The idea that social determinants of health — non-medical conditions in which people are born, grow, live and work — have an out-sized role on our health is not new. In fact, some studies estimate that such conditions can account for between 30 and 55 percent of health outcomes. But how these factors impact downstream mental health conditions such as schizophrenia remains poorly understood.
“What we want to know is how these environmental factors, such as stress, trauma and poverty, get under the skin, so to speak, and affect our biology,” said Kaitlyn Dal Bon, a Ph.D. student in cognitive neuroscience in CMU’s Department of Psychology.
To better understand what is currently known about these links, Jessica Hua, a clinical psychologist at the San Francisco VA Health Care System and UCSF, and Dal Bon co-wrote a systematic review of 114 scientific studies that looked at early life adversity, social disconnection, racism/discrimination, poverty and food insecurity in more than 10,000 participants with schizophrenia or at risk for developing psychosis. Their findings were published today in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Overall, the researchers found evidence that greater exposure to adverse conditions early in life is associated with differences in brain structure, brain function and neurochemistry – all of which have been previously linked to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
To be clear, no one factor is known to cause schizophrenia... (MORE - no ads)
INTRO: Carnegie Mellon University and University of California, San Francisco researchers found that childhood trauma, poverty, social isolation and other adverse life experiences are associated with brain changes linked to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders — findings that could help researchers identify people at risk earlier and develop interventions before severe symptoms emerge.
The idea that social determinants of health — non-medical conditions in which people are born, grow, live and work — have an out-sized role on our health is not new. In fact, some studies estimate that such conditions can account for between 30 and 55 percent of health outcomes. But how these factors impact downstream mental health conditions such as schizophrenia remains poorly understood.
“What we want to know is how these environmental factors, such as stress, trauma and poverty, get under the skin, so to speak, and affect our biology,” said Kaitlyn Dal Bon, a Ph.D. student in cognitive neuroscience in CMU’s Department of Psychology.
To better understand what is currently known about these links, Jessica Hua, a clinical psychologist at the San Francisco VA Health Care System and UCSF, and Dal Bon co-wrote a systematic review of 114 scientific studies that looked at early life adversity, social disconnection, racism/discrimination, poverty and food insecurity in more than 10,000 participants with schizophrenia or at risk for developing psychosis. Their findings were published today in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry.
Overall, the researchers found evidence that greater exposure to adverse conditions early in life is associated with differences in brain structure, brain function and neurochemistry – all of which have been previously linked to schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
To be clear, no one factor is known to cause schizophrenia... (MORE - no ads)