Executive function performance and trauma exposure in a community sample of children.
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(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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
DePrince
Anne P
AP
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, 2155 S. Race Street, Denver, CO 80208, USA.
Weinzierl
Kristin M
KM
Combs
Melody D
MD
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D002652:Child Behavior; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*