Abstract
BackgroundChild maltreatment poses high risks to the mental health and cognitive functioning of children not only in childhood but also in later life. However, it remains unclear whether child maltreatment is directly associated with impaired cognitive functioning or whether this link is mediated by mental health problems. Our study aimed at examining this research question among children and adolescents in Uganda.MethodsA sample of 232 school-going children and adolescents with a mean age of 14.03 (SD = 3.25) was assessed on multiple forms of maltreatment using the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology Exposure—Pediatric Version (pediMACE). Executive functions were assessed by the Tower of London task and working memory by the Corsi Block Tapping task, while mental health problems were assessed using the Child PTSD Symptom Scale for PTSD and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC).ResultsIn total, 232 (100%) of the participant reported to have experienced at least one type of maltreatment in their lifetime including emotional, physical, and sexual violence as well as neglect. We found a negative association between child maltreatment and executive functions (β = − 0.487, p < 0.001) and working memory (β = − 0.242, p = 0.001). Mental health problems did not mediate this relationship.ConclusionsChild maltreatment seems to be related to lower working memory and executive functioning of affected children and adolescents even after controlling for potential cofounders. Our study indicates that child maltreatment the affects children’s cognitive functionality beyond health and well-being.
Highlights
Child maltreatment poses high risks to the mental health and cognitive functioning of children in childhood and in later life
Child maltreatment which is defined as any act of abuse or neglect by a parent, caregiver or a community member that results in harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a child has been remarked as one of the greatest global public health concerns [1]
A number of studies on neuropsychological impairments have observed a significant disruption in prefrontal cortex that plays an important role in executive functioning following exposure to trauma and subsequent Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis [20,21,22,23,24,25]
Summary
Child maltreatment poses high risks to the mental health and cognitive functioning of children in childhood and in later life. Child maltreatment does inflict physical pain on the affected children and poses a major risk to cognitive impairment in both childhood and adulthood [12,13,14]. A systematic review of cognitive function after childhood trauma concluded that cognitive abnormalities may be linked to neuro-psychological and neurological impacts [16]. Studies with both animals and humans show that exposure to adverse experiences in early life affects brain regulation and endocrine responses to stress [17,18,19]. Stress in turn seems to affect the functionality of human memory and learning [18, 26,27,28]
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