Child Maltreatment, Particularly Neglect, Tied to Cognitive Deficits

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Childhood maltreatment is associated with later cognitive difficulties, according to a study published in the September issue of The Lancet Psychiatry.

Andrea Danese, M.D., Ph.D., from King”s College London, and Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., from the John Jay College City University of New York in New York City, evaluated associations of objective and subjective measures of maltreatment with cognitive abilities within the same individuals. Analysis included 1,179 individuals with both objective, court-documented evidence of childhood maltreatment, subjective self-reports of individuals’ histories at age 29 years, and cognitive testing between ages 29 years and 41 years.

The researchers found that participants with objective measures of childhood maltreatment showed pervasive cognitive deficits versus those without objective measures (Quick Test: β = –7.97; Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised: β = –7.41; Matrix Reasoning Test: β = –3.86; Trail Making Test Part B: β = 3.66; and Trail Making Test Part A: β = 2.92). Associations with cognitive deficits were limited to objective measures of neglect. For participants with subjective measures of childhood maltreatment, there were no differences in cognitive deficits from those without subjective measures. Cognitive deficits did not explain associations between different measures of maltreatment and later psychopathology.

“Psychopathology associated with maltreatment is unlikely to emerge because of cognitive deficits, but might instead be driven by individual appraisals,  autobiographical memories, and associated schemas,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text