Study links severe childhood deprivation to neuropsychological difficulties in adulthood

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/uos-sls052220.php

News Release 22-May-2020
University of Southampton

A team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Bath and King's College London, have provided compelling evidence of the impact of adversity in childhood on neuropsychological functioning in adulthood. They also showed that neuropsychological difficulties may explain why early adversity is linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in later life.

Their study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, analysed neuropsychological function in 70 young adults who were exposed to severely depriving conditions in Romanian orphanages during Nicolae Ceausescu's regime and subsequently adopted by British families. The adoptees were compared to 22 British adoptees of similar ages who had not suffered childhood deprivation.

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The results showed that the Romanian adoptees had lower IQs and performed less well on the other four tests when compared to the adoptees who had not suffered deprivation. The adoptees with the lowest IQs and the greatest problems in prospective memory were more likely to show ADHD symptoms in adulthood than those without neuropsychological difficulties. The researchers found no direct link between ASD symptoms and neuropsychological performance.

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