Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Volume 20,Issue 1,pages 56–62,February 2015
DOI:10.1111/camh.12068
Childhood maltreatment and executive functions in adolescents
Luiza Mothes,Christian Haag Kristensen,Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira,Rochele Paz Fonseca,Irani Iracema de Lima ArgimonTatiana Quarti Irigaray
Abstract
Background
The aim of this study was to investigate differences in executive functions between adolescents exposed to different forms of single- and multitype childhood maltreatment.
Method
The sample was composed of 83 adolescents, divided into three groups: single-type maltreatment (n=24), multitype maltreatment (n=19), and no history of maltreatment (n=40), matched for education and sex.
Results
The results showed that teenagers who suffered a single type of childhood maltreatment performed worse than the other two groups on tasks of cognitive flexibility and visual processing speed. Individuals who suffered multitype maltreatment had worse initiation and lower verbal processing speed than the other two groups.
Conclusions
Childhood maltreatment may have a significant impact on executive functioning in adolescence.
