Authors:

CAROZZA, Holmes, J., ASTLE, D.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2022

CBU number:

8818

Abstract:

Despite abundant evidence of the detrimental effects of childhood adversity, its nature and underlying mechanism(s) remain contested. One influential theory, the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology, proposes deprivation and threat as distinct dimensions of early experience. In this pre-registered analysis of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we used a network and clustering approach to assess the dimensionality of relationships between childhood adversity and adolescent cognition and emotional functioning, and recursive partitioning to identify timing effects. We found evidence that deprivation and threat are separate dimensions of adversity, and that early experiences of deprivation cluster with later measures of cognition and emotional functioning. This cluster varies by age of exposure, such that it includes fewer forms of deprivation as children grow from infancy to middle childhood. Our measures did not form a specific cluster linking threat to emotional functioning. Open Practices Statement The pre-registration for this study can be found at AsPredicted.org (aspredicted.org/blind.php?x=sw8x9w) and code for all analyses on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/y6f2c/?view_only=b5734ad90f014a1d981df3a59efe54f7). Data are available by application to ALSPAC (www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/researchers/access/).

URL:

Data for this project is available at: https://osf.io/y6f2c/?view_only=b5734ad90f014a1d981df3a59efe54f7