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Role of Developmental Timing of Early Caregiving Adversity in Later Life Anxiety Symptoms During Childhood

Fri, April 9, 4:30 to 5:30pm EDT (4:30 to 5:30pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Background: Children who experience early life adversities (e.g., abuse, neglect) are at increased risk for developing psychopathology, including anxiety (Harpur, Polek, & van Harmelen, 2015). Researchers have found that the developmental timing of childhood maltreatment, including age of onset, duration, and recency, has significant effects on later life psychopathological outcomes (Dunn, McLaughlin, Slopen, Rosand, & Smoller, 2013). Caregiving-related adversities (crEAs) (e.g., disrupted caregiving, abandonment, institutionalization, caregiver-perpetrated maltreatment) are thought to have a particularly profound impact on children's early emotional development; however, little is known about the effects of crEA timing on child psychopathology. The objective of the current study, therefore, was to examine the relationship between crEA timing variables and later life anxiety symptoms in children.

Method: Data were drawn from wave 1 of a longitudinal study of neurobehavioral development. Participants included 255 children (136F/119M male; 10.5% Asian-American, 28.2% Black/African-American, 32.2% White/European-American, 11.3% Hispanic/Latinx, 17.6% other) aged 6-12. All children were exposed to at least one crEA, and had a variety of upbringing histories. crEA exposure and timing were assessed via the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory, Caregiving History Interview, and Maternal Maltreatment Classification Interview. Caregivers also reported on their child’s anxiety symptoms using the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale. Linear regression models estimated associations between crEA age of onset, duration, and recency, respectively, and later childhood anxiety symptoms. Covariates included age at testing, gender, and cumulative crEA score.

Results: crEA timing variables were correlated with each other (Figure 1). Additionally, there were similar associations between crEA timing variables and both total anxiety and anxiety subtypes. Linear regression models indicated that there was a significant, positive association between crEA duration and total anxiety (B = 0.05, SE = 0.01, 𝛽 = 0.21, p = .003; Figure 2A), along with a significant, negative association between crEA recency and anxiety (B = -0.05, SE = 0.02, 𝛽 = 0.16, p = .01; Figure 2B). However, crEA age of onset was unrelated to anxiety (B = -0.02, SE = 0.02, 𝛽 = -0.05, p =.42; Figure 2C).

Discussion: Findings indicate that children with longer crEA durations and more recent crEA experiences demonstrate higher anxiety symptoms during childhood. This pattern of results supports experience-dependent models of childhood adversity, suggesting that individual adverse experiences can influence children later in life. crEA age of onset was not associated with elevated anxiety. Most children in this sample experienced crEAs from birth, and therefore, there was little variability in age of onset and limited power for examining crEA onsets later in development. Alternatively, there may not be a developmental sensitive period for crEA exposure on childhood anxiety. Additional studies should investigate a broader range of ages of onset in addition to the moderating effects of specific adversity types, such as abuse, neglect, and disrupted caregiving, on later life anxiety. These findings suggest the importance of considering the effects of adverse experiences, particularly those that are enduring and more recently present, when studying or assessing the presence of anxiety symptoms in childhood.

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