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Some Evidence for an Association Between Early Life Adversity and Decision Urgency.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between early life adversity and adult outcomes is traditionally investigated relative to risk and protective factors (e.g., resilience, cognitive appraisal), and poor self-control or decision-making. However, life history theory suggests this relationship may be adaptive-underpinned by mechanisms that use early environmental cues to alter the developmental trajectory toward more short-term strategies. These short-term strategies have some theoretical overlap with the most common process models of decision-making-evidence accumulation models-which model decision urgency as a decision threshold. The current study examined the relationship between decision urgency (through the linear ballistic accumulator) and early life adversity. A mixture of analysis methods, including a joint model analysis designed to explicitly account for uncertainty in estimated decision urgency values, revealed weak-to-strong evidence in favor of a relationship between decision urgency and early life adversity, suggesting a possible effect of life history strategy on even the most basic decisions.

SUBMITTER: Knowles JP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6377396 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Some Evidence for an Association Between Early Life Adversity and Decision Urgency.

Knowles Johanne P JP Evans Nathan J NJ Burke Darren D

Frontiers in psychology 20190211

The relationship between early life adversity and adult outcomes is traditionally investigated relative to risk and protective factors (e.g., resilience, cognitive appraisal), and poor self-control or decision-making. However, life history theory suggests this relationship may be adaptive-underpinned by mechanisms that use early environmental cues to alter the developmental trajectory toward more short-term strategies. These short-term strategies have some theoretical overlap with the most commo ...[more]

PMID: 30804859

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Project description:ImportanceAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. However, the mechanism of this effect, critical to enhancing public health, remains poorly understood.ObjectiveTo investigate the neurodevelopmental trajectory of the association between early ACEs and adolescent general and emotional health outcomes.Design, setting, and participantsA prospective longitudinal study that began when patients were aged 3 to 6 years who underwent neuroimaging later at ages 7 to 12 years and whose mental and physical health outcomes were observed at ages 9 to 15 years. Sequential mediation models were used to investigate associations between early ACEs and brain structure, emotion development, and health outcomes longitudinally. Children were recruited from an academic medical center research unit.ExposureEarly life adversity.Main outcomes and measuresEarly ACEs in children aged 3 to 7 years; volume of a subregion of the prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal gyrus, in children aged 6 to 12 years; and emotional awareness, depression severity, and general health outcomes in children and adolescents aged 9 to 15 years.ResultsThe mean (SD) age of 119 patients was 9.65 (1.31) years at the time of scan. The mean (SD) ACE score was 5.44 (3.46). The mean (SD) depression severity scores were 2.61 (1.78) at preschool, 1.77 (1.58) at time 2, and 2.16 (1.64) at time 3. The mean (SD) global physical health scores at time 2 and time 3 were 0.30 (0.38) and 0.33 (0.42), respectively. Sequential mediation in the association between high early ACEs and emotional and physical health outcomes were found. Smaller inferior frontal gyrus volumes and poor emotional awareness sequentially mediated the association between early ACEs and poor general health (model parameter estimate = 0.002; 95% CI, 0.0002-0.056) and higher depression severity (model parameter estimate = 0.007; 95% CI, 0.001-0.021) in adolescence. An increase from 0 to 3 early ACEs was associated with 15% and 25% increases in depression severity and physical health problems, respectively.Conclusions and relevanceStudy findings highlight 1 putative neurodevelopmental mechanism by which the association between early ACEs and later poor mental and physical health outcomes may operate. This identified risk trajectory may be useful to target preventive interventions.

Dataset Information

Some Evidence for an Association Between Early Life Adversity and Decision Urgency.

Publications

Some Evidence for an Association Between Early Life Adversity and Decision Urgency.

Similar Datasets

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