Adverse childhood events and cognitive function among young adults: Prospective results from the national longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may have lasting impacts on cognition. Objective: To determine if ACE exposure is prospectively associated with cognition in young adults. We hypothesized that deprivation- and threat-type ACEs as well as higher cumulative ACE exposure predict poorer cognition. Participants & setting: Participants were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a prospective cohort investigation of U.S. adolescents followed to adulthood. Current study participants were 18 24 years old (Wave III), 24 32 years old (Wave IV), and 31-42 years old (Wave V). The maximum Wave IV sample was 12,288 adults; Wave V was 1277 adults. Methods: History of ACEs were assessed at Wave III. Three cognitive indicators were assessed at Wave IV and Wave V using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (immediate and delayed verbal memory) and the Digit-Span Backward Task (working memory). Results: The deprivation ACE of not-having-basic-needs met was associated with poorer working (beta = 0.14, CI95 -0.26, 0.01), immediate (beta= 0.29, CI95 0.43, 0.15), and delayed memory (beta=-0.27, CI95 0.43, 0.12) at Wave IV; poorer immediate (beta= 0.47, CI95-0.79, 0.16) and delayed memory (beta= 0.33, CI95 -0.65, 0.01) at Wave V. The threat ACE of sexual abuse was associated with poorer immediate (beta= 0.40, CI95 0.62, 0.17) and delayed memory (beta= 0.29, CI95 0.55, 0.03) at Wave IV. Higher cumulative ACEs predicted poorer delayed memory (beta = 0.05, CI95 0.10, 0.01) at Wave V. Conclusions: Higher ACEs, especially deprivation-type, were prospectively linked to poorer cognition. Early wide-scale screening/tailored treatments addressing ACEs and cognitive function may be warranted.