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<p>A new <a href="https://dev.theshaderoom.com/new-study-black-women-experience-depression-differently/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> sheds light on how childhood adversity can impact the brain, and it specifically showed that racism and poverty can physically alter the organ&#8217;s development.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Thousands Of Kids&#8217; MRI Scans Were Examined</h3>
<p>The findings were recently published in <a href="https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.21090961" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The American Journal of Psychiatry</em></a>, and it involved Harvard researchers examining MRI scans taken from thousands of children—7,350 white, and 1,786 Black.</p>
<p>Participants were all aged between nine and ten years old, and the objective was to explore &#8220;the relationship between racial disparities in adversity exposure and race-related differences in brain structure.&#8221;</p>
<p>In other words, they essentially wanted to see how Black and white children&#8217;s brains can develop differently as a result of the dissimilar challenges they face in society.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/04/us/black-children-brain-development/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>CNN</em></a>, the researchers also noted that they wanted to dispel the &#8220;folk belief that Black and white people have categorically different brains,&#8221; as any differences would really stem from the &#8220;disproportionate burden of life experiences that people have.&#8221;</p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Study Finds That Trauma &#8216;May Contribute To Race-Related Differences In Brain Structures&#8217;</h3>
<p>The researchers uncovered that, on average, &#8220;Black children experienced more traumatic events&#8221; than their white peers. By way of the MRI scans, they also found that Black children &#8220;showed lower amygdala, hippocampus, and [prefrontal cortex] gray matter volumes compared with white children.&#8221;</p>
<p>For context, these parts of the brain are respectively associated with emotion regulation, memory formation, and decision making.</p>
<p>As a result, they found that adverse experiences like racism and poverty &#8220;may contribute to race-related differences in brain structures.&#8221;</p>
<p>Additionally, they noted that the research &#8220;may provide insight&#8221; into the &#8220;disparate rates of psychiatric disease among Black and white individuals in the United States.&#8221;</p>
<p>Notably, after uncovering the findings, Dr. Nathaniel Harnett—an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard—told <em>CNN</em> that the research points to why &#8220;large-scale structural and systemic change&#8221; is needed.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The adversity that these kids are exposed to, it impacts everyone, but it disproportionately burdens Black children in this case.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>What do you think about these findings?</p>
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