Clinchard Claudia, Casas Brooks, Kim-Spoon Jungmeen
Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Roanoke, VA, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2024 Oct 28:1-14. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424001457.
Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period critical for the development of executive function, but there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated at six time points from ages 14 to 20. At each time point, adolescents completed behavioral tasks measuring the three dimensions of executive function (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Neglect and abuse in early life (ages 1-13) were reported at ages 18-19. Unconditional growth curve models revealed age-related improvement in all three executive function dimensions. Conditional growth curve models tested the prospective effects of recalled neglect and abuse on the developmental trajectories of executive function. The results revealed that neglect was associated with developmental changes in working memory abilities, such that greater levels of neglect during ages 1-13 were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14-20. These findings highlight the adverse consequences of early neglect experiences shown by delayed working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood.
在美国，约七分之一的儿童遭受过虐待，这会导致他们一生都出现不良后果。青春期是执行功能发展的关键时期，但很少有研究探讨虐待和忽视如何不同地影响整个青春期及进入成年早期的执行功能发展轨迹。在当前研究中，167名青少年在14岁至20岁期间的六个时间点参与了研究。在每个时间点，青少年完成了测量执行功能三个维度（工作记忆、抑制控制和认知灵活性）的行为任务。18至19岁时报告了早年（1至13岁）遭受的忽视和虐待情况。无条件生长曲线模型显示，所有三个执行功能维度都有与年龄相关的改善。条件生长曲线模型测试了回忆起的忽视和虐待对执行功能发展轨迹的前瞻性影响。结果显示，忽视与工作记忆能力的发展变化有关，即1至13岁期间遭受的忽视程度越高，14至20岁期间工作记忆能力的增长就越缓慢。这些发现凸显了早年忽视经历的不良后果，表现为从青春期到成年早期工作记忆发展延迟。
