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Childhood maltreatment and executive functions in adolescents
Author(s) -
Mothes Luiza,
Kristensen Christian Haag,
GrassiOliveira Rodrigo,
Fonseca Rochele Paz,
Lima Argimon Irani Iracema,
Irigaray Tatiana Quarti
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
child and adolescent mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1475-3588
pISSN - 1475-357X
DOI - 10.1111/camh.12068
Subject(s) - cognitive flexibility , executive functions , psychology , flexibility (engineering) , cognition , developmental psychology , poison control , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , statistics , mathematics
Background The aim of this study was to investigate differences in executive functions between adolescents exposed to different forms of single‐ and multitype childhood maltreatment. Method The sample was composed of 83 adolescents, divided into three groups: single‐type maltreatment ( n = 24), multitype maltreatment ( n = 19), and no history of maltreatment ( n = 40), matched for education and sex. Results The results showed that teenagers who suffered a single type of childhood maltreatment performed worse than the other two groups on tasks of cognitive flexibility and visual processing speed. Individuals who suffered multitype maltreatment had worse initiation and lower verbal processing speed than the other two groups. Conclusions Childhood maltreatment may have a significant impact on executive functioning in adolescence.