Childhood mental health difficulties mediate the long‐term association between early‐life adversity at age 3 and poorer cognitive functioning at ages 11 and 14

Nweze, Tochukwu; Ezenwa, Michael; Ajaelu, C. C.; Okoye, Chukwuemeka A. F.

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13757

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…Although the study asked about the lifetime exposure to stress at 14, later stress measurements at ages 19 and 22 primarily centered on stressful events that had happened since the time of a participant's last study visit. Previous work on the sensitive periods of adversity (Dunn et al, 2019;Marini et al, 2020;Nweze et al, 2022) has observed that the effects of adversity on outcomes are greater when exposures occur in very early childhood (than in later childhood). Past cross-sectional studies on brain development and adversity have commonly focused on samples with stress exposure in the very early years of life (i.e., institutionalization at ages 1-3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar to relations with cortical development, previous studies have shown that chronic stress across childhood and adolescence exacts negative effects on cognitive functioning (Nweze, Ezenwa, Ajaelu, & Okoye, 2023). There may be common mechanisms through which the effects of stress manifest on both cognitive and neurodevelopmental processes (Arnsten, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…This change score model can quantify the individual differences in change observed over time among those exposed to chronic stress. This is pertinent given that previous studies have indicated potential nuanced and heterogeneous effects of stress on cortical structures (Mackes et al, 2020), neural connectivity (Ellwood-Lowe, Whitfield-Gabrieli, & Bunge, 2021), and cognitive outcomes (Fields et al, 2021;Nweze, Nwoke, Nwufo, Aniekwu, & Lange, 2020;Nweze, Ezenwa, Ajaelu, Hanson, & Okoye, 2022;Young et al, 2022). Thus, teasing out the portions of developmental trajectories when deficits, or compensatory benefits, emerge in the brain or cognitive functioning could be very crucial in understanding the effects of stress across adolescence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trajectories of cortical structures associated with stress across adolescence: a bivariate latent change score approach

Nweze

Banaschewski

Ajaelu

et al. 2023

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Background Stress exposure in childhood and adolescence has been linked to reductions in cortical structures and cognitive functioning. However, to date, most of these studies have been cross‐sectional, limiting the ability to make long‐term inferences, given that most cortical structures continue to develop through adolescence. Methods Here, we used a subset of the IMAGEN population cohort sample (N = 502; assessment ages: 14, 19, and 22 years; mean age: 21.945 years; SD = 0.610) to understand longitudinally the long‐term interrelations between stress, cortical development, and cognitive functioning. To these ends, we first used a latent change score model to examine four bivariate relations – assessing individual differences in change in the relations between adolescent stress exposure and volume, surface area, and cortical thickness of cortical structures, as well as cognitive outcomes. Second, we probed for indirect neurocognitive effects linking stress to cortical brain structures and cognitive functions using rich longitudinal mediation modeling. Results Latent change score modeling showed that greater baseline adolescence stress at age 14 predicted a small reduction in the right anterior cingulate volume (Std. β = −.327, p = .042, 95% CI [−0.643, −0.012]) and right anterior cingulate surface area (Std. β = −.274, p = .038, 95% CI [−0.533, −0.015]) across ages 14–22. These effects were very modest in nature and became nonsignificant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Our longitudinal analyses found no evidence of indirect effects in the two neurocognitive pathways linking adolescent stress to brain and cognitive outcomes. Conclusion Findings shed light on the impact of stress on brain reductions, particularly in the prefrontal cortex that have consistently been implicated in the previous cross‐sectional studies. However, the magnitude of effects observed in our study is smaller than that has been reported in past cross‐sectional work. This suggests that the potential impact of stress during adolescence on brain structures may likely be more modest than previously noted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trajectories of cortical structures associated with stress across adolescence: a bivariate latent change score approach

Nweze

Banaschewski

Ajaelu

et al. 2023

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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“…7 Previous studies have demonstrated the developmental consequences (eg, cognitive dysfunction, mental illness, and lower academic skills) of exposure to specific types of adversity (eg, childhood poverty, maltreatment, and institutional care) 8,9 and to a high number of adversities. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Because adverse experiences often co-occur, it is important to examine multiple adversities simultaneously and determine whether exposure to different patterns of adversities confers varying magnitudes of risk for children's developmental problems. 18,19 Theoretical advances in research on the developmental consequences of exposure to multiple types of adversities suggest this would be the case.…”

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confidence: 99%

Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Neurocognitive Development

Yu,

Haynie,

Gilman

2024

JAMA Pediatr

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ImportanceEarly life adversity is associated with higher risk of many adult health problems, including mental illness, substance abuse, suicide attempt, and chronic diseases. Many previous studies investigated adversities one at a time or investigated the health toll associated with the cumulative number of adversities.ObjectiveTo examine the co-occurrence of adversities among children and how specific patterns of adversities are associated with neurocognitive development.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cohort study used data from the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP), which enrolled a national sample of women during pregnancy and followed their offspring to ages 7 to 8 years, between 1959 and 1974. The CPP was a community-based study conducted in 12 US medical centers. The CPP sample was ascertained through prenatal clinics and is diverse with respect to race and socioeconomic status. Data analysis was performed from August 2023 to March 2024.ExposuresA latent class analysis was conducted of 12 adverse childhood experiences that occurred between birth and 7 years to identify common patterns of childhood adversities.Main Outcomes and MeasuresFive neurocognitive tests were used to measure children’s visual-motor, sensory-motor, auditory-vocal, intelligence quotient, and academic skills.ResultsThe analysis sample included 49 853 offspring (25 226 boys [50.6%]); 24 436 children (49.0%) had low probability of experiencing any adversity, whereas the remaining half were classified into 5 groups reflecting distinct patterns of childhood adversities: parental harshness and neglect, 1625 children (3.3%); parental separation and poverty, 8731 children (17.5%); family instability, 3655 children (7.3%); family loss, instability, and poverty, 1505 children (3.0%); and crowded housing and poverty, 9901 children (19.9%). Children in 4 of these groups had lower neurocognitive scores than children with a low probability of experiencing adversity, with standardized mean differences ranging from −0.07 (95% CI, −0.11 to −0.03) to −0.86 (95% CI, −1.06 to −0.65).Conclusions and RelevanceThese findings suggest that adverse childhood experiences are associated with deficits in children’s neurocognitive functions. It is important to understand the complexity in children’s exposure to adversity and the resulting developmental consequences, as well as the underlying mechanisms, to help support children exposed to adversity and foster healthier and resilient trajectories of development.

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Leveraging multivariate approaches to advance the science of early-life adversity

Brieant,

Sisk,

Keding

et al. 2024

Child Abuse & Neglect

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Childhood mental health difficulties mediate the long‐term association between early‐life adversity at age 3 and poorer cognitive functioning at ages 11 and 14

Cited by 3 publications

References 54 publications

Trajectories of cortical structures associated with stress across adolescence: a bivariate latent change score approach

Trajectories of cortical structures associated with stress across adolescence: a bivariate latent change score approach

Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Neurocognitive Development

Leveraging multivariate approaches to advance the science of early-life adversity

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