Center for Innovation in Health and Resilient Aging, Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University.
Department of Psychology, John Jay College, City University of New York.
Neuropsychology. 2023 Nov;37(8):943-954. doi: 10.1037/neu0000911. Epub 2023 May 29.
Negative consequences of childhood maltreatment have been well-documented, including poorer executive functioning and nonverbal reasoning in midlife. However, not all adults with a history of childhood maltreatment manifest these outcomes, suggesting the presence of risk and protective factors. Based on growing empirical support for the importance of social variables in understanding neuropsychological development and functioning, we examined whether social support and social isolation mediate or moderate the effects of childhood maltreatment on cognitive functioning in midlife.
In the context of a prospective cohort design study, individuals with documented histories of childhood maltreatment (ages 0-11 years) and demographically matched controls were followed up and interviewed in adulthood. Social support and isolation were assessed in young adulthood ( = 29), and cognitive functioning was assessed in midlife ( = 41). Structural equation modeling was used for mediation and linear regressions for moderation.
Childhood maltreatment predicted higher levels of social isolation and lower levels of social support and cognitive functioning. Only social isolation mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and midlife cognitive functioning, whereas childhood maltreatment interacted with social support to predict Matrix Reasoning in midlife. Social support was protective for the control group but not for those maltreated.
Social isolation and social support play different roles in understanding how childhood maltreatment impacts midlife cognitive functioning. Greater social isolation predicts greater deficits in cognitive functioning overall, whereas the protective effects of social support are limited to those without a documented history of childhood maltreatment. Clinical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
儿童期虐待的负面后果已有充分记录，包括中年时执行功能和非言语推理能力下降。然而，并非所有有儿童期虐待史的成年人都表现出这些结果，这表明存在风险和保护因素。基于社会变量在理解神经心理发展和功能方面的重要性的实证支持不断增加，我们研究了社会支持和社会隔离是否在儿童期虐待对中年认知功能的影响中起中介或调节作用。
在一项前瞻性队列设计研究中，对有记录的儿童期虐待史（0-11 岁）的个体和在人口统计学上匹配的对照组进行随访和成年后访谈。在青年期（ = 29）评估社会支持和隔离，在中年期（ = 41）评估认知功能。结构方程模型用于中介，线性回归用于调节。
儿童期虐待预测了更高水平的社会隔离和更低水平的社会支持和认知功能。只有社会隔离中介了儿童期虐待与中年认知功能之间的关系，而儿童期虐待与社会支持相互作用预测了中年的矩阵推理。社会支持对对照组具有保护作用，但对受虐待者没有保护作用。
社会隔离和社会支持在理解儿童期虐待如何影响中年认知功能方面起着不同的作用。社会隔离程度越高，认知功能总体上的缺陷越大，而社会支持的保护作用仅限于那些没有儿童期虐待史的人。讨论了临床意义。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2023 APA，保留所有权利）。
