Children who experience adverse situations, such as illness or poverty, or who belong to a broken or conflictive family, can suffer long-term consequences in their mental health. A new study has now shown the interactions between adversities in the first years of life, mental health problems and cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence.
The research was carried out by the team at the MRC Brain Sciences and Cognition Unit at the University of Cambridge, with the participation of researchers in Nigeria. These experts analyzed data from the Millennium Cohort Study in which a total of 13,287 children at the ages of three, five, seven, 11, and 14 were assessed on different test results and selected measures of early childhood adversity ( that they classified before the age of three), mental health and cognitive functioning, that is, working memory and vocabulary.
Using a statistical tool to determine how mental health influences the relationship between early life adversity and cognitive functioning later in childhood, the researchers found that experiencing early childhood adversity was associated with lower achievement. in working memory and vocabulary due to the impact that the difficult situations they had experienced had on the children’s mental health.
“Early life adversity can lead to prolonged periods of poor mental health, which in turn can have long-lasting effects on cognitive performance”
For example, poorer mental health between ages 3 and 14 as a result of early life misfortunes accounted for 59% of the variance in poorer working memory performance at age 11 and explained 70%. the poorest performance in vocabulary at age 14.
Results showed that adversities experienced at three years significantly predicted poorer mental health between ages three and 14; this association was especially strong at age three but weakened over time, suggesting that having problems at this age, which is considered a key time in child development, has a long-term negative impact on mental health.
Building resilience in children to protect their mental health
The researchers also found that as mental health problems decreased over time there were improvements in working memory and vocabulary, suggesting that if behavioral and psychological difficulties are addressed while children are young, they could be reduced. the effects that early childhood adversity has on later cognition. This finding is very important for doctors, educators and parents who can help these minors.
“Our findings suggest that early life adversity can lead to prolonged periods of poor mental health, which in turn can have long-lasting effects on cognitive performance, such as working memory and vocabulary,” said Dr. Tochukwu Nweze, of the MRC Cognition and Brain and lead author of the study.
“We already know that poor mental health and cognition are associated with numerous behavioral problems that affect quality of life and satisfaction. This reinforces the need for early interventions to provide children with the best possible outcomes in life.” “In this way, we can hope to break through the self-sustaining mental health difficulties faced by people who have experienced early life adversity,” concludes Dr. Nweze.
The researchers have explained that we are at a time when adolescents and young people are facing problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change and that educators and doctors must focus their efforts on developing resilience in children. who have suffered adversities at the beginning of their lives to minimize their negative consequences and help them overcome their possible traumas. The research has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
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