UNL researchers introduce study on long-term effects of abuse

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have introduced a new study highlighting physical abuse and the long-term harm it causes.

The study, which took two years of research, was conducted on 49 UNL students.

Neuro-images were taken using MRI scans, which found a connection between physical abuse and decreased cohesiveness in the brain.

UNL professor Hideo Suzuki says white matter tracts of the brain are linked to emotional and behavioral issues.

“To our knowledge, we know that for example, physical abuse impacts, like, an attentional deficit or poor working memory performance, and also emotional dysregulation,” Suzuki said.

The findings revealed that as abuse increased, the likelihood of emotional and behavioral problems increased as well.

“We hypothesized that probably those are behavior programs that might be explained by our study,” Suzuki said.

Suzuki and other researchers are now looking into what specific behaviors can be attributed to physical abuse.