Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:18:54.732Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cumulative early childhood adversity and later antisocial behavior: The mediating role of passive avoidance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

Idil Yazgan*
Affiliation:
Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Jamie L. Hanson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
John E. Bates
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Jennifer E. Lansford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
Gregory S. Pettit
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Family Studies / College of Human Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
Kenneth A. Dodge
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Idil Yazgan, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, 302 Towerview Rd., Durham, NC27708. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

Twenty-six percent of children experience a traumatic event by the age of 4. Negative events during childhood have deleterious correlates later in life, including antisocial behavior. However, the mechanisms that play into this relation are unclear. We explored deficits in neurocognitive functioning, specifically problems in passive avoidance, a construct with elements of inhibitory control and learning as a potential acquired mediator for the pathway between cumulative early childhood adversity from birth to age 7 and later antisocial behavior through age 18, using prospective longitudinal data from 585 participants. Path analyses showed that cumulative early childhood adversity predicted impaired passive avoidance during adolescence and increased antisocial behavior during late adolescence. Furthermore, poor neurocognition, namely, passive avoidance, predicted later antisocial behavior and significantly mediated the relation between cumulative early childhood adversity and later antisocial behavior. This research has implications for understanding the development of later antisocial behavior and points to a potential target for neurocognitive intervention within the pathway from cumulative early childhood adversity to later antisocial behavior.

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide for the 1991 CBCL 14–18, YSR, and TRF Profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Agnew, R. (2001). Building on the foundation of general strain theory: Specifying the types of strain most likely to lead to crime and delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 38, 319361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Åkerlund, D., Golsteyn, B. H., Grönqvist, H., & Lindahl, L. (2016). Time discounting and criminal behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113, 61606165. doi:10.1073/pnas.1522445113CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anda, R. F., Fleisher, V. I., Felitti, V. J., Edwards, V. J., Whitfield, C. L., Dube, S. R., & Williamson, D. F. (2004). Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and indicators of impaired adult worker performance. Permanente Journal, 8, 3038.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baglivio, M. T., Wolff, K. T., Piquero, A. R., & Epps, N. (2015). The relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and juvenile offending trajectories in a juvenile offender sample. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43, 229241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, J. E., Marvinney, D., Kelly, T., Dodge, K. A., Bennett, D. S., & Pettit, G. S. (1994). Child-care history and kindergarten adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 30, 690700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beers, S. R., & De Bellis, M. D. (2002). Neuropsychological function in children with maltreatment-related posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 483486. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.3.483CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belfer, M. L. (2008). Child and adolescent mental disorders: The magnitude of the problem across the globe. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 226236. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01855.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L. K., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bielas, H., Barra, S., Skrivanel, C., Aebi, M., Steinhausen, H., Bessler, C., & Plattner, B. (2016). The associations of cumulative adverse childhood experiences and irritability with mental disorders in detained male adolescent offenders. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 10. doi:10.1186/s13034-016-0122-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biglan, A., Flay, B. R., Embry, D. D., & Sandler, I. N. (2012). The critical role of nurturing environments for promoting human well-being. American Psychologist, 67, 257271. doi:10.1037/a0026796CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blackwell, K. A., Chatham, C. H., Wiseheart, M., & Munakata, Y. (2014). A developmental window into trade-offs in executive function: The case of task switching versus response inhibition in 6-year-olds. Neuropsychologia, 62, 356364. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.04.016CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2015). School readiness and self-regulation: A developmental psychobiological approach. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 711731. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Ford, J. D., Fraleigh, L., McCarthy, K., & Carter, A. S. (2010). Prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic events in a healthy birth cohort of very young children in the northeastern United States. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 725733. doi:10.1002/jts.20593CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burch, T. (2015). Skin color and the criminal justice system: Beyond Black-White disparities in sentencing. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 12, 395420. doi:10.1111/jells.12077CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coie, J. D., & Dodge, K. A. (1983). Continuities and changes in children's social status: A five-year longitudinal study. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 29, 261282.Google Scholar
Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1998). Multiple risk factors in the development of externalizing behavior problems: Group and individual differences. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 469493. doi:10.1017/s0954579498001709CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A. (2006). Translational science in action: Hostile attributional style and the development of aggressive behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 791814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1990). Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. Science, 250, 16781683. doi:10.1126/science.2270481CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Goodman, W. B., Murphy, R. A., O'Donnell, K., Sato, J., & Guptill, S. (2014). Implementation and randomized controlled trial evaluation of universal postnatal nurse home visiting. American Journal of Public Health, 104, S136S143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Lansford, J. E., Burks, V. S., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Fontaine, R., & Price, J. M. (2003). Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Development, 74, 374393. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.7402004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1994). Socialization mediators of the relation between socioeconomic status and child conduct problems. Child Development, 65, 649665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., & Valente, E. (1995). Social information processing patterns partially mediate the effect of early physical abuse on later conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 632643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dong, M., Giles, W. H., Felitti, V. J., Dube, S. R., Williams, J. E., Chapman, D. P., & Anda, R. F. (2004). Insights into causal pathways for ischemic heart disease. Circulation, 110, 17611766. doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000143074.54995.7fCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Douglas, J. W. (1975). Early hospital admissions and later disturbances in behavior and learning. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 17, 456480. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8749.1975.tb03497.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Chapman, D. P., Williamson, D. F., & Giles, W. H. (2001). Childhood abuse, household dysfunction, and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286, 3089. doi:10.1001/jama.286.24.3089CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, V. J., Holden, G. W., Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2003). Relationship between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental health in community respondents: Results from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 14531460. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.160.8.1453CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, B. J., Bianchi, J. M., Griskevicius, V., & Frankenhuis, W. E. (2017). Beyond risk and protective factors: An adaptation-based approach to resilience. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 561587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, B. J., McFadyen-Ketchum, S., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1999). Quality of early family relationships and individual differences in the timing of pubertal maturation in girls: A longitudinal test of an evolutionary model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 387401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epstein, M. K., Poythress, N. G., & Brandon, K. O. (2006). The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and passive avoidance learning: A validation study of race and gender effects. Assessment, 13, 197207. doi:10.1177/1073191105284992CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W., & Kim, P. (2010). Multiple risk exposure as a potential explanatory mechanism for the socioeconomic status-health gradient. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186, 174189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W., & Kim, P. (2012). Childhood poverty and young adults’ allostatic load: The mediating role of childhood cumulative risk exposure. Psychological Science, 23, 979983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, G. W., Li, D., & Whipple, S. S. (2013). Cumulative risk and child development. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 13421396. doi:10.1037/a0031808CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farmer, R. F., & Rucklidge, J. J. (2006). An evaluation of the response modulation hypothesis in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 545557. doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9034-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., … Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14, 245258. doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00017-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fillmore, M. T. (2003). Drug abuse as a problem of impaired control: Current approaches and findings. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 2, 179197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finkel, E. J., Dewall, C. N., Slotter, E. B., Oaten, M., & Foshee, V. A. (2009). Self-regulatory failure and intimate partner violence perpetration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 483499. doi:10.1037/a0015433CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garmezy, N., & Rutter, M. (1983). Stress, coping, and adversities and development in children. New York: McGraw–Hill.Google Scholar
Gee, D. G., Bath, K. G., Johnson, C. M., Meyer, H. C., Murty, V. P., Bos, W. V., & Hartley, C. A. (2018). Neurocognitive development of motivated behavior: Dynamic changes across childhood and adolescence. Journal of Neuroscience, 38, 94339445. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1674-18.2018CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, D., & Mallery, M. (2010). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference, 17.0 update (10th ed.) Boston: Pearson.Google Scholar
Gould, F., Clarke, J., Heim, C., Harvey, P. D., Majer, M., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2012). The effects of child abuse and neglect on cognitive functioning in adulthood. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46, 500506. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.01.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenberg, M. T., Lengua, L. J., Coie, J. D., Pinderhughes, E. E., Bierman, K., Dodge, K. A., … McMahon, R. J. (1999). Predicting developmental outcomes at school entry using multiple-risk model: Four American communities. Developmental Psychology, 35, 403417. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.35.2.403CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., Adluru, N., Chung, M. K., Alexander, A. L., Davidson, R. J., & Pollak, S. D. (2013). Early neglect is associated with alterations in white matter integrity and cognitive functioning. Child Development, 84, 15661578. doi:10.1111/cdev.2013.84.issue-5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., Albert, W. D., Skinner, A. T., Shen, S. H., Dodge, K. A., & Lansford, J. E. (2019). Resting state coupling between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex is related to household income in childhood and indexes future psychological vulnerability to stress. Development and Psychopathology, 31, 10531066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., Chung, M. K., Avants, B. B., Rudolph, K. D., Shirtcliff, E. A., Gee, J. C., … Pollak, S. D. (2012). Structural variations in prefrontal cortex mediate the relationship between early childhood stress and spatial working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 79177925.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., Gillmore, A. D., Yu, T., Holmes, C. J., Hallowell, E. S., Barton, A. W., … Chen, E. (2019). A family focused intervention influences hippocampal–prefrontal connectivity through gains in self-regulation. Child Development, 90, 13891401. doi:10.111/cdev.13154CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., van den Bos, W., Roeber, B. J., Rudolph, K. D., Davidson, R. J., & Pollak, S. D. (2017). Early adversity and learning: Implications for typical and atypical behavioral development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58, 770778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harms, M. B., Bowen, K. E., Hanson, J. L., & Pollak, S. D. (2018). Instrumental learning and cognitive flexibility processes are impaired in children exposed to early life stress. Developmental Science, 21, e12596. doi:10.1111/desc.2018.21.issue-4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartung, C. M., Milich, R., Lynam, D. R., & Martin, C. A. (2002). Understanding the relations among gender, disinhibition, and disruptive behavior in adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 659664. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.111.4.659CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollingshead, W. (1979). The Hollingshead Four-Factor Index of Socioeconomic Status. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2005). Methodology in the social sciences. Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kraemer, H. C., Stice, E., Kazdin, A., Offord, D., & Kupfer, D. (2001). How do risk factors work together? Mediators, moderators, and independent, overlapping, and proxy risk factors. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 848856. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.158.6.848CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Miller-Johnson, S., Berlin, L. J., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (2007). Early physical abuse and later violent delinquency: A prospective longitudinal study. Child Maltreatment, 12, 233245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, R. J. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 11981202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840, 3344. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, J. P., & Kosson, D. S. (1986). Passive avoidance learning in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic offenders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 252256. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.95.3.252CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, J. P., & Schmitt, W. A. (1998). Passive avoidance in psychopathic offenders: A replication and extension. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 527532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, J. P., Widom, C. S., & Nathan, S. (1985). Passive avoidance in syndromes of disinhibition: Psychopathy and extraversion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 13161327. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.48.5.1316CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palacios-Barrios, E. E., & Hanson, J. L. (2019). Poverty and self-regulation: Connecting psychosocial processes, neurobiology, and the risk for psychopathology. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 90, 5264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piquero, A. R., Jennings, W. G., & Farrington, D. P. (2010). On the malleability of self-control: Theoretical and policy implications regarding a general theory of crime. Justice Quarterly, 27, 803834. doi:10.1080/07418820903379628CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piquero, A. R., Jennings, W. G., Farrington, D. P., Diamond, B., & Gonzalez, J. M. (2016). A meta-analysis update on the effectiveness of early self-control improvement programs to improve self-control and reduce delinquency. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 12, 249264. doi:10.1007/s11292-016-9257-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879891. doi:10.3758/brm.40.3.879CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reef, J., Diamantopoulou, S., van Meurs, I., Verhulst, F. C., & van der Ende, J. (2011). Developmental trajectories of child to adolescent externalizing behavior and adult DSM-IV disorder: Results of a 24-year longitudinal study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46, 12331241. doi:10.1007/s00127-010-0297-9CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romeo, R., Knapp, M., & Scott, S. (2006). Economic cost of severe antisocial behaviour in children—And who pays it. British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 547553. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.104.007625CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling and more. Version 0.5–12 (BETA). Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979). Protective factors in children's responses to stress and disadvantage. Annals of the Academy of Medicine, 8, 324338.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the face of adversity: Protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 598611. doi:10.1192/bjp.147.6.598CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sameroff, A. J. (1987). Transactional risk factors and prevention. In Steinberg, J. A. & Silverman, M. M. (Eds.), Department of Health and Human Services publication, No. (ADM)87-1492. Preventing mental disorders: A research perspective (pp. 7489). Rockville, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.Google Scholar
Sorensen, L. C., Dodge, K. A., & the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2015). How does the Fast Track intervention prevent adverse outcomes in young adulthood? Child Development, 87, 429445. doi:10.1111/cdev.12467CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spann, M. N., Mayes, L. C., Kalmar, J. H., Guiney, J., Womer, F. Y., Pittman, B., … Blumberg, H. P. (2012). Childhood abuse and neglect and cognitive flexibility in adolescents. Child Neuropsychology, 18, 182189. doi:10.1080/09297049.2011.595400CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teicher, M. H., Samson, J. A., Anderson, C. M., & Ohashi, K. (2016). The effects of childhood maltreatment on brain structure, function and connectivity. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 652666.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trentacosta, C. J., Hyde, L. W., Goodlett, B. D., & Shaw, D. S. (2013). Longitudinal prediction of disruptive behavior disorders in adolescent males from multiple risk domains. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 44, 561572. doi:10.1007/s10578-012-0349-3CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trentacosta, C. J., Hyde, L. W., Shaw, D. S., Dishion, T. J., Gardner, F., & Wilson, M. (2008). The relations among cumulative risk, parenting, and behavior problems during early childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 12111219. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01941.xGoogle ScholarPubMed
UNICEF. (2017). A familiar face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents. (2018, March 27). Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/resources/a-familiar-face/Google Scholar
Verona, E., Sprague, J., & Sadeh, N. (2012). Inhibitory control and negative emotional processing in psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121, 498510. doi:10.1037/a0025308CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vitale, J. E., Newman, J. P., Bates, J. E., Goodnight, J., Dodge, K. A., & Pettit, G. S. (2005). Deficient behavioral inhibition and anomalous selective attention in a community sample of adolescents with psychopathic traits and low-anxiety traits. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 461470. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-5727-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weafer, J., Baggott, M. J., & de Wit, H. (2013). Test–retest reliability of behavioral measures of impulsive choice, impulsive action, and inattention. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 21, 475481. doi:10.1037/a0033659CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, S. F., Tyler, P., Botkin, M. L., Erway, A. K., Thornton, L. C., Kolli, V., … Blair, R. J. (2016). Youth with substance abuse histories exhibit dysfunctional representation of expected value during a passive avoidance task. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 257, 1724. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2016.08.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widom, C. S. (1992). The cycle of violence. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice.Google Scholar
Wolff, K. T., & Baglivio, M. T. (2016). Adverse childhood experiences, negative emotionality, and pathways to juvenile recidivism. Crime and Delinquency, 63, 14951521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yechiam, E., Goodnight, J., Bates, J. E., Busemeyer, J. R., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Newman, J. P. (2006). A formal cognitive model of the go/no-go discrimination task: Evaluation and implications. Psychological Assessment, 18, 239249. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.18.3.239CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed