Development of Dual Systems Constructs During Childhood: Sexual Abuse as a Predictor of Differential Development

• In Event: Effects of Childhood Adversity over the Life Course

Abstract

The dual systems model has become a prominent developmental framework in part because of the relevance of core concepts for predicting risk for involvement in antisocial behavior. However, there is a dearth of research which has examined the differential development of these concepts (impulse control and sensation-seeking) during childhood and early adolescence. Further, while childhood sexual abuse has been observed to predict low impulse control and heightened sensation-seeking, this form of traumatic stress has yet to be examined as a predictor of differential development of these outcomes. This study addressed these gaps in the extant literature by identifying developmental heterogeneity in sensation-seeking and impulse control outcomes and examining childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of this heterogeneity. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study data were analyzed. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify developmental trajectories of dual systems model outcomes. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examined childhood sexual abuse variety as a predictor of trajectory group assignment. Results indicated that a three-group model of sensation-seeking development and a four-group model of impulse control development best fit the data. Greater childhood sexual abuse variety predicted high and stable sensation-seeking, but not impulse control.

Authors

• Ella Rose Waldspurger, Michigan State University

• Thomas Wojciechowski, Michigan State University