Maltreatment Related Trauma Symptoms Affect Academic Achievement through Cognitive Functioning: A Preliminary Examination in Japan.

Kohske Ogata

doi:10.3390/jintelligence5040032

Abstract

Child abuse and neglect could have some deleterious impacts on both intellectual and academic performance of school students. The aim of this study was to examine relationships among child maltreatment, trauma symptoms, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement. Data were collected from child guidance centers, where maltreated children were substantiated, assessed, evaluated, protected, and treated clinically. The selection criteria for subjects included Japanese children (1) who had a history of maltreatment; (2) whose IQs were measured using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children second edition (KABC-II); and (3) whose traumatic stress was evaluated using the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children alternate version (TSCC-A). Covariance structure analysis showed the model that explains the relations of trauma symptom (measured by TSCC-A) on academic achievement (measured by KABC-II) as being intervened by cognitive functioning (measured by KABC-II).

Highlights

Child maltreatment can have an adverse impact on a child’s development
Covariance structure analysis showed the model that explains the relations of trauma symptom on academic achievement as being intervened by cognitive functioning
Through an English longitudinal study examining over 70,000 children, Deary, Strand, Smith, and Fernandes [3] revealed that the correlation between intelligence quotient (IQ)

Summary

Introduction

Child maltreatment can have an adverse impact on a child’s development. Veltman and Browne’s [1]. Comparing across physically abused (n = 22), neglected (n = 47), and non-maltreated children (n = 70), Kurtz, Gaudin, Wodarski, and Howing [6] indicated that the neglected group displayed more severe academic delays than the control group These findings suggest that poor academic achievement is predicted by impaired intellectual development due. In an investigation of 299 children aged 6 to 7 years old, Delaney-Black et al [7] examined the relationship between violence exposure and trauma-related symptoms, and measured IQ using the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scale of Intelligence–Revised. The aim of this study was to examine relationships among child maltreatment, trauma symptoms, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement. My hypothesis for testing using covariance structure analysis was that trauma due to maltreatment leads to impaired cognition, which in turn leads to reduced achievement

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion