Longitudinal Associations Between Trauma Exposure and Executive Functions in Children: Findings from a Dutch Birth Cohort Study

Overview

Journal Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol

Specialties Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychology

Date 2021 Sep 5

PMID 34482489

Authors

R Op den Kelder

A L Van den Akker

J B M Ensink

H M Geurts

G Overbeek

S R de Rooij

T G M Vrijkotte

R J L Lindauer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study is the first to distinguish two possible predictive directions between trauma exposure and executive functioning in children in a community sample. The sample consists of 1006 children from two time points with a seven years' time interval of a longitudinal Dutch birth cohort study, the ABCD-study (Van Eijsden et al., 2011). We analyzed the longitudinal associations between trauma exposure and executive functioning using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that (after controlling for prenatal substance exposure and mothers' educational level) trauma exposure before age 5 is predictive of poorer executive functioning at age 12 and trauma exposure between age 6 and 12. However, the association between executive functioning at age 5 and trauma exposure between age 6 and 12 was not statistically significant. Our results indicate that early life trauma exposure has a long term impact on later executive functioning and not the other way around. On top of that, trauma exposure seems to accumulate across childhood when children are exposed to a traumatic event before the age of 5. When looking at the potential moderating role of parenting behavior we found no evidence for such a moderating effect of parenting behavior. Our findings showed that children exposed to trauma early in life may experience problems in executive functioning later in life and they seem at higher risk for cumulative trauma exposure. Clinical practice should take this into account in both the way they provide (early) mental health care and in prevention and recognition of early trauma exposure.

References

Afifi T, MacMillan H . Resilience following child maltreatment: a review of protective factors. Can J Psychiatry. 2011; 56(5):266-72. DOI: 10.1177/070674371105600505. View

Brattstrom O, Eriksson M, Larsson E, Oldner A . Socio-economic status and co-morbidity as risk factors for trauma. Eur J Epidemiol. 2014; 30(2):151-7. DOI: 10.1007/s10654-014-9969-1. View

Brown T, Landgraf J . Improvements in executive function correlate with enhanced performance and functioning and health-related quality of life: evidence from 2 large, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials in ADHD. Postgrad Med. 2010; 122(5):42-51. DOI: 10.3810/pgm.2010.09.2200. View

Camerota M, Willoughby M, Blair C . Measurement models for studying child executive functioning: Questioning the status quo. Dev Psychol. 2020; 56(12):2236-2245. PMC: 8284867. DOI: 10.1037/dev0001127. View

Copeland W, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello E . Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress in childhood. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007; 64(5):577-84. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.64.5.577. View

de Sonneville L, Boringa J, Reuling I, Lazeron R, Ader H, Polman C . Information processing characteristics in subtypes of multiple sclerosis. Neuropsychologia. 2002; 40(11):1751-65. DOI: 10.1016/s0028-3932(02)00041-6. View

Diamond A . Executive functions. Annu Rev Psychol. 2012; 64:135-68. PMC: 4084861. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750. View

Fowler P, Tompsett C, Braciszewski J, Jacques-Tiura A, Baltes B . Community violence: a meta-analysis on the effect of exposure and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents. Dev Psychopathol. 2009; 21(1):227-59. DOI: 10.1017/S0954579409000145. View

Fried P, Smith A . A literature review of the consequences of prenatal marihuana exposure. An emerging theme of a deficiency in aspects of executive function. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2001; 23(1):1-11. DOI: 10.1016/s0892-0362(00)00119-7. View

10.

Geoffroy M, Pereira S, Li L, Power C . Child Neglect and Maltreatment and Childhood-to-Adulthood Cognition and Mental Health in a Prospective Birth Cohort. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2015; 55(1):33-40.e3. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.10.012. View

11.

Gray M, Litz B, Hsu J, Lombardo T . Psychometric properties of the life events checklist. Assessment. 2004; 11(4):330-41. DOI: 10.1177/1073191104269954. View

12.

Green J, McLaughlin K, Berglund P, Gruber M, Sampson N, Zaslavsky A . Childhood adversities and adult psychiatric disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication I: associations with first onset of DSM-IV disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010; 67(2):113-23. PMC: 2822662. DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.186. View

13.

Guxens M, Vermeulen R, van Eijsden M, Beekhuizen J, Vrijkotte T, van Strien R . Outdoor and indoor sources of residential radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, personal cell phone and cordless phone use, and cognitive function in 5-6 years old children. Environ Res. 2016; 150:364-374. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.06.021. View

14.

Karr J, Areshenkoff C, Rast P, Hofer S, Iverson G, Garcia-Barrera M . The unity and diversity of executive functions: A systematic review and re-analysis of latent variable studies. Psychol Bull. 2018; 144(11):1147-1185. PMC: 6197939. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000160. View

15.

Kenworthy L, Yerys B, Anthony L, Wallace G . Understanding executive control in autism spectrum disorders in the lab and in the real world. Neuropsychol Rev. 2008; 18(4):320-38. PMC: 2856078. DOI: 10.1007/s11065-008-9077-7. View

16.

Kim-Spoon J, Kahn R, Lauharatanahirun N, Deater-Deckard K, Bickel W, Chiu P . Executive functioning and substance use in adolescence: Neurobiological and behavioral perspectives. Neuropsychologia. 2017; 100:79-92. PMC: 5518609. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.04.020. View

17.

Lind M, Brown R, Sheerin C, York T, Myers J, Kendler K . Does Parenting Influence the Enduring Impact of Severe Childhood Sexual Abuse on Psychiatric Resilience in Adulthood?. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2017; 49(1):33-41. PMC: 5680128. DOI: 10.1007/s10578-017-0727-y. View

18.

Malarbi S, Abu-Rayya H, Muscara F, Stargatt R . Neuropsychological functioning of childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016; 72:68-86. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.004. View

19.

McDermott J, Westerlund A, Zeanah C, Nelson C, Fox N . Early adversity and neural correlates of executive function: implications for academic adjustment. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2012; 2 Suppl 1:S59-66. PMC: 3408020. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.09.008. View

20.

McLaughlin K, Green J, Gruber M, Sampson N, Zaslavsky A, Kessler R . Childhood adversities and first onset of psychiatric disorders in a national sample of US adolescents. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012; 69(11):1151-60. PMC: 3490224. DOI: 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.2277. View