Executive Function Performance and Trauma Exposure in a Community Sample of Children

Autor/inn/en	DePrince, Anne P.; Weinzierl, Kristin M.; Combs, Melody D.
Titel	Executive Function Performance and Trauma Exposure in a Community Sample of Children
Quelle	In: Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 33 (2009) 6, S.353-361 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0145-2134
DOI	10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.08.002
Schlagwörter	Behavior Problems; Socioeconomic Status; Intervention; Neurological Impairments; Academic Achievement; Intelligence Quotient; Inhibition; Short Term Memory; Family Violence; Emotional Development; Child Behavior; Emotional Response; Low Achievement; Cognitive Processes; Auditory Perception; Correlation; Effect Size; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Anxiety; Brain; Head Injuries; At Risk Persons; Peer Relationship; Psychological Patterns + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Neurodegenerative Erkrankung; Schulleistung; Intelligenzquotient; Hemmung; Kurzzeitgedächtnis; Gefühlsbildung; Emotionales Verhalten; Unterdurchschnittliche Leistung; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Auditive Wahrnehmung; Akustische Wahrnehmung; Akustik; Korrelation; Psychiatrische Symptomatik; Angst; Gehirn; Kopfverletzung; Risikogruppe; Peer-Beziehungen
Abstract	Objective: Though children exposed to familial violence are reported to have difficulties with a range of emotional and behavioral problems (e.g., lower school achievement) that implicate executive function (EF) deficits, relatively little research has specifically examined EF as a function of trauma exposure in children. Methods: Based on parent report of children's exposure to potentially traumatic events, children (N = 110; Age[subscript Mean] = 10.39) from an ethnically diverse community sample were compared across three trauma-exposure groups: familial trauma, non-familial trauma, and no trauma. Children completed a battery of tests to assess working memory, behavioral inhibition, processing speed, auditory attention, and interference control. Results: Familial trauma (relative to non-familial and no trauma exposure) was associated with poorer performance on an EF composite (composed of working memory, inhibition, auditory attention, and processing speed tasks); the effect size was medium. Both trauma-exposure status and dissociation symptoms explained unique variance in EF performance after controlling for anxiety symptoms, socio-economic status, and potential traumatic brain injury. While IQ and EF performance were related, SES predicted unique variance in IQ (and not EF) scores, while familial-trauma exposure did not. Conclusions: The contribution of trauma exposure to "basic" executive functioning held after taking into account symptoms (anxiety and dissociation), socio-economic status, and possible traumatic brain injury exposure. EF problems may provide one route via which maltreated children become at risk for peer, academic, and behavior problems relative to their peers. Practice implications: EF problems may provide one route via which maltreated children become at risk for peer, academic, psychological, and behavior problems relative to their peers. Recently, intervention strategies have emerged in the anxiety and mood disorder treatment literatures that appear to effectively target EFs. As future research continues to specify the relationship between child trauma exposure and EF performance, these innovative treatments may have important practice implications for addressing EF deficits. (Contains 5 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10