A new study has found that experiencing abuse as a child is related to more cognitive difficulties as an adult than was estimated earlier. The study was conducted by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’ss College London and the City University of New York. This study was published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry.

Researchers said that difficulties in cognition or intellectual activity involving thinking, reasoning and memory, linked to childhood maltreatment, especially neglect, have been “grossly underestimated in previous studies.” This is because of biases in previous studies that suggest 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.

Andrea Danese, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at King’s College London and co-author of the study said, “While there are some important exceptions, most research in this area has relied on retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment from adult participants. Our study has shown that this reliance on retrospective reports has likely resulted in researchers and clinicians underestimating the extent to which individuals with documented cases of maltreatment, and particularly neglect, are experiencing cognitive deficits.”

The researchers tested the relative associations of court-documented exposure to--and adult recall of--childhood maltreatment with cognitive abilities within the same individuals. A group of 1,179 participants was identified from an ongoing cohort in the U.S. All participants underwent a variety of tests in order to assess their cognitive abilities in adult life, according to a report in Medical Xpress.

The 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.

Danese said, “Our study highlights the importance of identifying young people who have experienced neglect so that the proper support can be put in place, for example, to mitigate the negative consequences in education and employment.”

According to the report in Medical Xpress, more research is needed to understand why individuals with documented histories of neglect have cognitive deficits. The researchers suspect this might be due to a lack of stimulation in childhood, the familial transmission of cognitive challenges, and/or the role of other experiences that often accompany neglect, such as family poverty. Disentangling the mechanisms underlying the observed associations will provide helpful insights to develop effective interventions.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Mental Health, Health and around the world.