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Childhood Adversity and Incident Psychotic Experiences in Early Adulthood: Cognitive and Psychopathological Mediators

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Childhood adversity is often described as a potential cause of incident psychotic experiences, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We aimed to examine the mediating role of cognitive and psychopathological factors in the relation between childhood adversity and incident psychotic experiences in early adulthood. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a large population-based cohort study. Childhood adversity was measured prospectively from birth to age 11 years, mediators (anxiety, depression, external locus of control [LoC], negative symptoms) were assessed at approximately 16 years of age, and incident psychotic experiences were assessed at ages 18 and 24 years. Mediation was examined via the counterfactual g-computation formula. STUDY RESULTS: In total, 7% of participants had incident suspected or definite psychotic experiences in early adulthood. Childhood adversity was related to more incident psychotic experiences (ORadjusted = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.21; 1.49), and this association was partially mediated via all mediators examined (proportion mediated: 19.9%). In separate analyses for each mediator, anxiety, depression, external LoC, and negative symptoms were all found to mediate the link between adversity and incident psychotic experiences. Accounting for potential confounders did not modify our results. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that cognitive biases as well as mood symptomatology may be on the causal pathway between early-life adversity and the development of psychotic experiences. Future studies should determine which mediating factors are most easily modifiable and most likely to reduce the risk of developing psychotic experiences.
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbae023
Authors: Andrea P Cortes Hidalgo, Gemma Hammerton, Jon Heron, Koen Bolhuis, Paul Madley-Dowd, Henning Tiemeier, Marinus H van IJzendoorn, Stanley Zammit, Hannah J Jones
Institutions: Erasmus MC, University of Bristol, MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Harvard University, University College London, Monash University, Cardiff University
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,230
Funders: Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health and Care Research, University of Bristol, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Medical Research Council, Erasmus+
Awards: G1222096694, G1245084889, G1684393010, G1793884970, G2538597952, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): A multi-generation, longitudinal resource, G339059223, G3507283293, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): A multi- generation, longitudinal resource focusing on life course health and well- being., G3987754321, G4213003937, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children: An international resource for population genomics and lifecourse epidemiology. Core Programme Support 2011-2015 and Core programme support 2014-2019, Statistical Methods for Improving Causal Analyses, G6050707053, Causes, Consequences and Modification of Health Behaviour, Mendelian randomization to hypothesis-free causal inference, An investigation of the causal pathways from childhood conduct problems to poor health outcomes and criminal behaviour in adulthood, An investigation of the causal pathways from childhood conduct problems to poor health outcomes and criminal behaviour in adulthood, G7737178365, Pathways to psychosis: Investigating environmental, cognitive and genetic mechanisms underlying development of psychotic experiences in young adults, The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): A multi-generation, longitudinal resource focusing on life course health and well-being., G8201869620, G8502142660
OpenAlex ID: W4392383622
FWCI: 2.906
Cites: 47
Cited by: 7
Related to: 10