Open AccessGlobal deficits in executive functioning are transdiagnostic mediators between severe childhood neglect and psychopathology in adolescence
Author(s) -
Mark Wade,
Charles H. Zeanah,
Nathan A. Fox,
Charles A. Nelson
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psychological medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.857
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1469-8978
pISSN - 0033-2917
DOI - 10.1017/s0033291719001764
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychology , neglect , developmental psychopathology , clinical psychology , neuropsychology , endophenotype , longitudinal study , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , pathology , psychotherapist
Children reared in institutions experience profound deprivation that is associated with both heightened levels of psychopathology and deficits in executive functioning (EF). It is unclear whether deficits in EF among institutionally-reared children serve as a vulnerability factor that increases risk for later psychopathology. It is also unclear whether this putative association between EF and psychopathology is transdiagnostic (i.e. cuts across domains of psychopathology), or specific to a given syndrome. Thus, we examined whether global deficits in EF mediate the association between severe childhood neglect and general v. specific psychopathology in adolescence.