Poster #132 - Developmental Trajectories of Receptive Vocabulary Among Maltreated and Demographically Comparable Non-Maltreated Youth

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Childhood maltreatment (i.e., abuse and neglect) is associated with poor developmental consequences across neurobiological, socio-emotional, and cognitive domains (Berens, Jensen, & Nelson, 2017; Hedges & Woon, 2011; Heleniak et al., 2016; Kim & Cicchetti, 2010). Cognitive outcomes following maltreatment include lower intelligence, impairments in language development, lower academic achievement, and deficits in executive functions (Cowell, Cicchetti, Rogosch, & Toth, 2015; Jaffee & Maikovich-Fong, 2011; Pears, Heywood, Kim, & Fisher, 2011; Pollak et al., 2010). Importantly, the detrimental effects of maltreatment on cognitive ability may represent a potential pathway by which maltreatment experiences contribute to a negative cascade across development (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010), warranting further study.

Although previous investigations have demonstrated the negative impact of maltreatment on cognitive outcomes, the difference in the rate of growth between maltreated children relative to non-maltreated children remains unclear due to limited studies using repeated measures. Further, majority of studies examining cognitive outcomes in maltreated children lack control groups matched on socioeconomic status, a potential confound. Thus, the current study examined cognitive trajectories of children with maltreatment histories and demographically comparable non-maltreated youth using two archival datasets containing four waves of receptive vocabulary. We predicted that children with histories of maltreatment would evidence gains in receptive vocabulary at a slower rate relative to non-maltreated children.

Children (N = 300) between five and 11 years of age were recruited from a single community and assessed yearly for four years (Cicchetti, Rogosch, Manly & Lynch, 2005; Cicchetti, Lynch & Manly, 2008). At Years 2, 3, and 4, 95%, 88% and 83% of the original sample were retained, respectively. The sample was racially diverse (59.7% non-white) and 66.1% male. Approximately half (n = 168) of the children were recruited based on substantiated histories of maltreatment, and the remaining children (n = 132) were recruited from non-maltreating families. Majority of the maltreated children had experienced multiple types of maltreatment, confirmed by CPS records, with onset of at least one type in infancy. Children were administered the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT; Dunn & Dunn, 1981), a measure of receptive vocabulary, at each assessment.
We used a mixed effects model with unstructured random effects to assess the relation between year (coded 0, 1, 2, and 3) and maltreatment (0 = control, 1 = maltreated). Child gender, age at study entry, and caregiver education served as covariates. The results of our mixed effects model indicated that maltreated children evidenced gains in receptive vocabulary at a slower rate relative to controls (See Table 1, Figure 1). This difference in the respective trajectories was observed despite both groups falling below normative means, which may be attributed to common socioeconomic adversity.

Our findings demonstrate the enduring impact of maltreatment on cognitive ability as measured by gains in receptive vocabulary. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that children who were exposed to maltreatment obtained approximately three raw points less per year in PPVT scores relative to their non-maltreated counterparts, controlling for relevant covariates. Implications of the findings and future directions will be discussed.

Authors

• Amy Hyoeun Lee, St. John's University
  Presenting Author

• William Chaplin, St. John's University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elissa Brown, St. John's University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin Bernard, Stony Brook University
  Non-Presenting Author