New research from the Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London and City University of New York suggests that the cognitive difficulties associated with childhood maltreatment, and particularly neglect, have been grossly underestimated in previous studies. The research, published in Lancet Psychiatry , suggests that the overreliance on retrospective self-reports of maltreatment in research has resulted in a biased evidence base that overlooks the challenges faced by children and young people with documented exposure to maltreatment. Researchers in this study tested the relative associations of court-documented exposure to, and adult recall of, childhood maltreatment with cognitive abilities within the same individuals.
1179 participants were identified from an ongoing cohort in the USA. All participants underwent a variety of tests in order to assess their cognitive abilities in adult life. Researchers found that participants with official records of childhood maltreatment showed, on average, cognitive deficits across most tests undertaken compared to those without records.
In contrast, the participants who retrospectively self-reported maltreatment did not demonstrate deficits when compared with those without reports. Researchers also noted that these findings were not consistent across the different types of maltreatment. Participants who had documented experiences of neglect demonstrated cognitive deficits, but those who had docum.