Affective working memory capacity in refugee adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

High numbers of adolescents today are exposed to conflict-related trauma, with trauma-exposure being associated with adverse biopsychosocial outcomes. Here we investigated the influence of trauma-exposure and high levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms on cognitive functioning in trauma-related compared to neutral contexts.

METHOD

Afghan adolescent refugees with high levels of PTSD symptomatology and non-trauma-exposed Afghan adolescent refugee controls (N = 47; 43% female; aged 13-19 years, M = 15.49, SD = 1.40) completed a visual working memory task including affective (trauma-related) and neutral distractors.

RESULTS

Working memory capacity in the context of trauma-related distractors (and not neutral distractors) was significantly poorer in trauma-exposed refugees with high levels of PTSD when compared to non-trauma-exposed controls.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the importance of investigating posttraumatic cognitive functioning within affective contexts and suggest that affective working memory capacity may constitute a promising target for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).