Socioeconomic status, prefrontal cortical volume, and cardiometabolic risk in early adolescence

Youth from socioeconomically disadvantaged families are disproportionately at risk for developing cardiometabolic diseases. Underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Therefore, we examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with structural variations in regions that underlie emotion processing and executive control, and whether those variations were in turn associated with cardiometabolic risk during adolescence. Primary areas of interest included the dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and secondary areas included the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus in sensitivity analyses.

Participants were 277 racially and ethnically diverse adolescents (M_age = 13.92, 63% female, 73% youth of color) assessed in eighth grade (Time 1) and again 2 years later (Time 2). Caregivers' educational attainment and household income were used to index family socioeconomic status. Cardiometabolic risk was based on a composite score of signs of metabolic syndrome (i.e., waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose), and structural brain imaging data characterized brain volumes.

Lower parent education was associated with smaller dlPFC volume, lateral OFC volume, and cardiometabolic risk at Time 1. Additionally, lower parent education and smaller dlPFC volume predicted greater cardiometabolic risk 2 years later at Time 2. Path analyses indicated that smaller dlPFC volume accounted for the association between parent education and cardiometabolic risk cross-sectionally and longitudinally 2 years later, but not for prospective changes in cardiometabolic risk.

Findings suggest that structural variation in the dlPFC may be a pathway connecting parent education to later cardiometabolic health problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).