There is a wide range of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which include parental neglect, abuse, dysfunction in the household, poverty, pollution, and violence that affect the well-being of individuals, especially children. A wide range of consequences of these experiences thataffect the wellbeing of individuals affected by these experiences, such as social, cognitive, and physical development, which are still under research. The current study focuses on the negative impacts these experiences have on childhood cognitive development and possible mitigations.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the understanding of the pervasive nature of childhood traumatic experiences, with major emphasis placed on the adverse effects of these experiences on the psychological and physical wellbeing of individuals who go through such experiences. Research has shown that there are various factors that elevate the potential of an individual to experience such adverse events. Some of these factors are the social determinants of health and structural racism, which have been proven to be risk factors for the impacts of childhood traumatic events on cognitive development in the early stages of childhood development. An intersection between the social determinants of health and structural racism compounds the adverse effects of ACEs Cotton and Shim (2022). This is a risk factor that is mainly associated with individuals in minority groups such as Indigenous, Black and people of colour who experience disproportionality at a higher rate. According to this research article, these communities have higher possibilities of experiencing ACEs because of experiences such as inadequate access to healthcare, exposure to violence and discrimination and violence and poverty. These communities have been found to have an increased vulnerability to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders and abuse of drugs. They have also been found to experience issues with academic performance, disciplinary issues and an increased rate of participation in the school-to-pipeline system. Structural racism, which includes issues such as discriminatory issues in education, healthcare, housing and the criminal justice system, has been shown to increase the possibilities of Aces in children in minority communities. In their research, Giano et al. (2020) show the role of disparity in the prevalence of ACEs in different demographic groups, showing the need for proper focus on his issue. The heavy burden of ACEs on childhood cognitive development and poor quality of life in children facing these circumstances shows the need for a comprehensive assessment of the issue and intervention strategies. According to Kovács-Tóth et al. (2021), it is important to analyze the negative impacts of ACEs on the emotional, social and behavioural wellbeing of adolescents and develop informed intervention strategies and support services that target different demographics.
Most of the results from these studies show that these types of experiences have adverse effects on the psychological development of children, which have further adverse impacts on the individual’s life at later stages. A study conducted by Beilharz et al. (2020) on childhood traumatic events and their impact on the psychological functioning of the individual shows that there is a significant relationship between the two variables with the adverse experiences found tpo be a resultant cause of poor psychological functioning in children. This study also found that these experiences have a high tendency to cause an increase in vulnerability to issues on the physical health of such individuals, mostly in the later stages of their lives. This study made use of a non-clinical study with a sample of young adults to reach their conclusion about the impacts of adverse experiences on the wellbeing of individuals. Likewise, in their study, Choi et al. (2019) found that ACEs in the early stages of childhood development and exposure to unhealthy environments led to the development of behavioural problems in children, showing the early impacts of such exposures. Studies such as the one conducted by Syed Sheriff et al. (2020) show a relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and the development of mental health issues in men in the military, showing the importance of deeper research on this topic, especially on the later developmental stages in an individual. These studies present an important aspect of these adverse experiences on the psychological and physical functioning that are mostly affected by the level of cognitive development, highlighting the detrimental effects of these experiences on an individual’s early stages of cognitive development.
Research has also found that parental care is an important factor in the development of adverse childhood experiences, having the ability to serve as a risk factor or a mitigation strategy. The parent-child relationship is the most important relationship a child can have in their early stages of development. Parents have the power to inform the identity and perception of children in the world, making this relationship a crucial one. Research conducted by Juffer et al. (2023) shows that parental attachment styles play an important role in children’s cognitive development, emphasizing that a poor attachment between children and their parents has the ability to negatively impact their development. Children raised in supportive environments have been found to have higher cognitive abilities and psychological functioning as compared to children raised in environments that lack support and nurturing. Neglect was found to be the most impactful experience in children, affecting the ability of the child to perceive the availability of support in their environment. Likewise, these researchers found that positive parental attachment can reverse the effects of negative parental attachment. According to these research articles, parental support and nurturing can be used to mitigate the effects of ACEs.
Despite the fact that the negative effects of childhood traumatic experiences affect individuals even in the later stages of their lives, there are ways through which these negative consequences can be buffered, mostly during childhood. Most of the research done on this fact shows that the most prominent way of mitigating the problem is by introducing better parenting styles, such as supporting, nurturing and sensitive parenting. These studies have shown the important roles parents play in the wellbeing and development of their children, with the relationship between parents and their children having the potential of either making or breaking the children. These studies emphasize the role of poor parenting, characterized by a lack of sensitivity, support, parental presence and a healthy environment free from abuse, on the development outcomes and wellbeing of these children. In their research, DePasquale and Gunnar (2020) emphasize the role a parent’s warm care and responsiveness play in developing resilience in children facing the consequences of adverse childhood experiences. These researchers make an argument through a comprehensive review of research findings that insensitivity and lack of nurturing parental care lead to the development of cognitive issues in children, which leads to the development of problems such as poor academic performances, behavioural issues and many other problems with cognitive functioning. The results of the research conducted by these researchers show the importance of parental sensitivity and nurturing in the mitigation of these issues. The findings of this research are supported by the conclusions made by Juffer et al., 2023 research, which show that the use of interventions such as attachment-based parental programs provides parents with the opportunity to provide their children with positive parent-and-child relationships is important in the alleviation of the negative impacts of ACEs.
The available literature shows that children raised in environments with adverse conditions such as lack of parental care, abuse, neglect and violence exhibit reduced cognitive functioning, indicating negative impacts of such experiences on childhood cognitive development. Despite the comprehensive research done by these studies, there is a need for more empirical studies exploring the brain structures of individuals affected by ACEs and the regions of the brain affected to come up with a conclusion supported by empirical studies. There is also a need to narrow down to the cognitive functions that are mostly affected by ACEs. These are the areas that the current research will be focusing on in addition to the areas that have been put under study by these articles to compare the findings.
References
Beilharz, J. E., Paterson, M., Fatt, S., Wilson, C., Burton, A., Cvejic, E., Lloyd, A., & Vollmer-Conna, U. (2020). The impact of childhood trauma on psychosocial functioning and physical health in a non-clinical community sample of young adults. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 54(2), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867419881206
Choi, Jeong-Kyun, et al. “Adverse Experiences in Early Childhood and Their Longitudinal Impact on Later Behavioral Problems of Children Living in Poverty.” Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 98, 2019, pp. 104181–104181, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104181.
Cotton, N. K., & Shim, R. S. (2022). Social Determinants of Health, Structural Racism, and the Impact on Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 61(11), 1385–1389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2022.04.020
DePasquale, C. E., & Gunnar, M. R. (2020). Parental sensitivity and nurturance. The Future of Children, 30(2), 53-70.
Giano, Z., Wheeler, D. L., & Hubach, R. D. (2020). The frequencies and disparities of adverse childhood experiences in the US. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1-12.
Juffer, F., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (Eds.). (2023). Promoting positive parenting: An attachment-based intervention. Taylor & Francis.
Kovács-Tóth, Beáta, et al. “Assessing Adverse Childhood Experiences, Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Symptoms, and Subjective Health Complaints among Hungarian Adolescents.” Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, vol. 15, no. 1, 2021, pp. 12–12, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-021-00365-7.
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Syed Sheriff, R., Van Hooff, M., Malhi, G., Grace, B., & McFarlane, A. (2020). Childhood trauma and the impact of deployment on the development of mental disorder in military males. Psychological Medicine, 50(5), 818–826. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719000655
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