Cognitive performance in children and adolescents with psychopathology traits: A cross-sectional multicohort study in the general population.

Elisabet Blok,Maria E Koopman-Verhoeff,Ryan L Muetzel,Tonya White,Manon Hillegers,Henning Tiemeier,Isabel K Schuurmans,Anne J Tijburg

doi:10.1017/s0954579422000165

Abstract

Psychopathology and cognitive development are closely related. Assessing the relationship between multiple domains of psychopathology and cognitive performance can elucidate which cognitive tasks are related to specific domains of psychopathology. This can help build theory and improve clinical decision-making in the future. In this study, we included 13,841 children and adolescents drawn from two large population-based samples (Generation R and ABCD studies). We assessed the cross-sectional relationship between three psychopathology domains (internalizing, externalizing, dysregulation profile (DP)) and four cognitive domains (vocabulary, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed) and the full-scale intelligence quotient. Lastly, differential associations between symptoms of psychopathology and cognitive performance by sex were assessed. Results indicated that internalizing symptoms were related to worse performance in working memory and processing speed, but better performance in the verbal domain. Externalizing and DP symptoms were related to poorer global cognitive performance. Notably, those in the DP subgroup had a 5.0 point lower IQ than those without behavioral problems. Cognitive performance was more heavily affected in boys than in girls given comparable levels of psychopathology. Taken together, we provide evidence for globally worse cognitive performance in children and adolescents with externalizing and DP symptoms, with those in the DP subgroup being most heavily affected.

Highlights

There is a saying from the 13th century that states “misfortunes never come singly” (Simpson & Speake, 2009), which can be applied to children with psychopathology
We examined the relationship between broad symptom domains of psychopathology and multiple domains of cognitive performance using both continuous and categorical approaches
We observed worse performance in the working memory and processing speed subtests, but contrary to our hypotheses, we found better performance in the verbal domain, both in the Generation R and Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) studies

Summary

Introduction

There is a saying from the 13th century that states “misfortunes never come singly” (Simpson & Speake, 2009), which can be applied to children with psychopathology. Symptoms of psychopathology and cognitive performance are inherent to brain function, and it is not surprising that they are closely related during development (Frazier et al, 2004; Papachristou & Flouri, 2019; Wagner et al, 2015). Both psychopathology symptoms and cognitive deficits put children at risk for later adverse outcomes (Althoff et al, 2010; Hofstra et al, 2002; Koenen et al, 2009; Meyer et al, 2009). Those children with DP symptoms have been shown to be at increased risk for continued psychopathology (Althoff et al, 2010; Blok et al, 2021; Meyer et al, 2009).

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Results

Conclusion