Cognitive Development in the Context of Trauma: Longitudinal Implications of Intimate Partner Violence for Women and Children

Abstract

Nearly one in three women in the United States have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), and children are often direct eyewitnesses to these events. IPV places women and children at risk for a range of health problems, and mounting literature indicates that IPV threatens cognitive development as well, particularly with regard to executive functioning (EF). EF refers to the ability to plan, think flexibly, inhibit responses, and redirect attention. Bioecological and developmental cascade models suggest that EF may influence the relation between IPV and a host of mental health concerns in women and children. One such concern involves disruptions in children’s abilities to direct and sustain attention, as executive dysfunction is a core component of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Accordingly, this dissertation assessed EF and attention problems in women and children with histories of IPV. The first study of this dissertation examined factors associated with mothers’ EF following IPV. Using longitudinal data, this study revealed unique relationships between IPV and women’s performance on tasks measuring distinct EF domains. Specifically, recent—but not remote—experiences of IPV were associated with impaired interference control, whereas women’s cognitive flexibility was not significantly impacted by recent or remote IPV. Women’s post-intervention depressive symptoms were predictive of impairments in cognitive flexibility eight years later, suggesting that treatment-resistant depression may increase risk for poor EF in women with histories of IPV. By assessing the differential effects of recent and remote IPV on distinct EF domains, this study addressed a gap in the literature on the links between trauma, mental health, and EF. Examining these relationships in women with children is critically important, as deficits in mothers’ EF following IPV may have lasting effects on their children’s development. The second dissertation study evaluated speeded control, an aspect of EF influenced by processing speed, in IPV-exposed children. Results indicated that children’s IPV exposure during the preschool years had a significant, negative impact on their speeded control in late childhood, eight years later. This relation was mediated by the remote effects of IPV on their mothers; specifically, IPV was positively associated with maternal depression, which in turn contributed to greater use of negative parenting strategies when children were of preschool age. Children’s IPV exposure during late childhood was not predictive of their concurrent speeded control performance, suggesting that the preschool years may be a sensitive period for EF development. This study was the first to assess how the detrimental effects of IPV on women affect their children’s cognition in the long term, and provides compelling evidence for developmental cascade models that emphasize the role of parent-child relationships during early childhood. The final dissertation study assessed the effectiveness of a ten-session intervention in reducing children’s attention problems. Results indicated that IPV exposure interacted with experimental group assignment such that among children exposed to high levels of IPV, those in the Treatment group exhibited fewer attention problems one year post-intervention relative to Controls. There was no treatment effect for children exposed to low levels of IPV. These results inform the implementation of evidence-based interventions for IPV-exposed children and their mothers that address the effects of violence on cognitive development. In doing so, this dissertation has implications for research on both cognitive development and family violence, contributing to two fields of psychology that, until recently, were rarely integrated.