Investigating the causal relationship between maltreatment and cognition in children: A systematic review

Young-Southward, Genevieve; Eaton, Catherine Torrington; O’Connor, Rory C.; Minnis, Helen

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104603

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In animal studies, maternal deprivation causes the rearrangement of numerous brain structures and functions that have enduring effects in rats and monkeys ( Lupien et al, 2009 ). Human studies have accumulated substantial evidence for a causal relationship between child maltreatment and reduced cognitive performance in institutionalized children ( Young-Southward et al, 2020 ). In community samples, abused and neglected children frequently performed worse on a range of cognitive tests, including spatial working memory tasks ( Augusti and Melinder, 2013 ), intelligence ( Kočovská et al, 2012 ), measures of attention, visual-motor integration, and concept formation ( Nolin and Ethier, 2007 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood adversity and cognitive impairment in later life

et al. 2022

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ObjectivesThis study examined the association between childhood adversity and cognitive impairment in later life and explored the potential moderation effect of gender and race.MethodsThe study sample included 15,133 participants of the Health and Retirement Study (1998–2016 surveys) who had complete data on key study measures and were more than 50. The outcome variable is a dichotomous indicator of cognitive impairment as assessed by the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status for self-respondents and the 16-item Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly for proxies. A total of six childhood adversity indicators included grade retention, parental substance abuse, physical abuse, trouble with the police, moving due to financial hardship, and receipt of help due to financial hardship in early life. The estimation of the association between childhood adversity and cognitive impairment involved Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Grade retention had the largest effect on incident cognitive impairment (HR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.23–1.38, p < 0.001), followed by physical abuse by a parent (HR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.00–1.20, p = 0.001). The impact of grade retention was more detrimental to women than men (interaction term HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.80–1.00, p = 0.048, female as the reference). Parental substance abuse was associated with a lower risk of incident cognitive impairment for most racial groups (HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.83–0.95, p = 0.001), but this association was reversed in “non-Hispanic other” race, consisting mainly of Asians (HR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.05–2.26, p = 0.025).DiscussionSome aspects of childhood adversity continue to harm cognitive functioning in later life, while some events may have the opposite effect, with evidence of heterogeneity across gender and race.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Childhood adversity and cognitive impairment in later life

et al. 2022

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“…demonstrated that the care giver was concerned and thinking about them (Holland, Floris, Crowley, et al, 2010). Causal association has been found between maltreatment and reduced overall cognitive performance in institutionalized children (Southwarda, Eatonb, O'Connora, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Situation of Institutional Care: Reflections and Lived Experiences of Inmates in Child Care Centers of Southern Ethiopia

Liranso

Zewude

2021

Preprint

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Institutionalization has a negative impact on children’s psychological adjustment. The absence of proper care for a staggering number of children devoid of parental care has been recognized as a severe problem requiring comprehensive and urgent intervention. The purpose of this research was to examine children’s living experiences in care institutions in Ethiopia. Qualitative research approach was used in which data were collected using in-depth interview, observation, key informant interviews, and focus group discussion methods. Data were tape-recorded, transcribed, manually organized after searching themes within the data. The results of the study show that inmates consider the basic needs fulfilled by the institution as better than they received in the family of origin. It was also found that the institution has problems in terms of fulfilling the emotional and psychological needs of the children. Furthermore, research participants experience feelings of loneliness and being neglected in the institution. In addition, difficulties of establishing relationship were also found. Above all, the institution lacks the experience of reintegrating the children to their families of origin. Whereas institutional care is found to be better in terms of fulfilling the basic needs of the children, it has problems when it comes to fulfilling the emotional and psycho-social needs of the children hosted. Therefore, the personnel of the institution should take trainings to improve the level of emotional attachment they should maintain with the children. Moreover, the institution should have a clear long-term strategic plan about how to admit the children, how to care for them, and finally how to reintegrate them to their families of origin.

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“…For example, adults who lived in care centres and reported higher levels of trauma and lower levels of positive touch during childhood, also rated affective touch as less pleasant [62]. Children in foster care who experience neglect show higher sympathetic activity during the Strange Situation, thus presenting difficulties in self-regulation when facing stress [63], as well as worse cognitive and executive functioning [64]. It is worth mentioning that child trauma and neglect are extremely complex experiences that frequently include several aspects of sensory and emotional deprivation.…”

Section: Atypical Affective Touch Processing Across Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%