Childhood Neglect & Ongoing vulnerability
Feb 18, 2013
Marie-Eve Nadeau, of Rivière-des-Prairies Hospital, and colleagues from the University of Quebec, have recently produced some research looking at term sequelae of childhood neglect, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma. In the first study [LINK] the attentional and executive function of 30 neglected children ages 8 to 12, were compared with a control group of 30 children. Neuropsychological tests measured aspects of simple and complex attention. The results have shown that neglected children were not different from control children with simple tests of attention. However, neglected children were shown difficulties in executive functions, in particular in tasks requiring mental flexibility. Thus, results supported the presence of difficulties regarding executive functions in neglected children, and supported that this form of maltreatment had consequences on high-level mental functions. Perhaps, therefore, the results of the second study are less surprising.
In the second study [LINK] the emotional and behavioral profiles of 41 neglected children,ages 6 to 12 years, were compared with a control group of 41 children. The Achenbach System was used in order to describe emotional and behavioral profiles based on the Diagnostic Criteria of the DSM-IV [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed.]). Neglected children had more symptoms on DSM-IV Scales related to conduct or attention/hyperactivity problems. Based on the perceptions of teachers, children exposed to neglect showed more externalized and internalized problems as well as symptoms on DSM-IV Scales. Results supported the relevance of using the Diagnostic Criteria of the DSM-IV and the importance of getting the different perceptions of respondents to better understand the emotional and behavioral portrait of neglected children.
Both of these studies are easily available for download (both here and on the Journal website -- I suspect the full contents of the journal are available for download during February).
These results are generally in accord with other studies of the impact of early childhood "abuse" on children's development -- thus, where I often write "abuse" on my website, one can generally include "(and neglect)" in ntackets after the words "abuse" or "maltreatment". Childhood abuse was noted by Giardino and colleagues (2011) [LINK] to be the commonest form of abuse suffered by children, and to be linked to suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) [LIINK]
Another paper recently published that is of somewhat tangential interest in this area is that of Forman-Hoffman and colleagues from the University of North Carolina (see [LINK] and [LINK]) This study did not examine longterm outcomes, and focused primarily on pharmacotherapy for non-relational sources of trauma. However, the outcome was not optimistic: "In the short term, no pharmacotherapy intervention demonstrated efficacy, and only a few psychological treatments (each with elements of cognitive behavioral therapy) showed benefit. The body of evidence provides little insight into how interventions to treat children exposed to trauma might influence healthy long-term development." As noted elsewhere: "A trauma exposure prevention and treatment research agenda can and should focus on resilience," And, I would argue, on interpersonal support asa major source of resilience.