Abstract
BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment profoundly impacts mental health and cognitive abilities, with effects varying according to the type of maltreatment. Parental verbal abuse (PVA) is a pervasive yet often overlooked form of child maltreatment linked to significant changes in brain structures crucial for language. This study investigated the impact of PVA on behavior, brain structure, and function related to language, examining how these effects may differ between females and males. METHODS: We recruited 142 adults who experienced varying levels of PVA during childhood. Participants completed questionnaires to assess their exposure to PVA, nonverbal abuse and neglect, and underwent cognitive tests to evaluate their language-related skills. We employed diffusion tensor imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore how PVA affect structural characteristics of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and brain activation patterns during a sentence comprehension task. RESULTS: Hierarchical regressions revealed sex-dependent effects of PVA on the AF lateralization. In females, PVA exposure was associated with decreased leftward lateralization of the AF's anterior segment and reduced frontal lateralization during sentence comprehension. Conversely, in males, PVA was related to increased leftward lateralization of the same segment, but this structural change did not correspond with significant effects on functional lateralization or language performance. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the susceptibility of AF's anterior segment and frontal activation to PVA, revealing distinct patterns between females and males. The findings underscore the necessity for future research to address these sex differences and develop targeted interventions to meet the distinct challenges that females and males may face.