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Hyperactivity and Impulsivity Symptoms Mediate the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Reading Achievement: A LONGSCAN Cohort Study

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Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) include various childhood stressors that can negatively impact the health and well-being of children. ACEs are associated with poor academic achievement. Attention is strongly associated with academic achievement, and there is a graded relationship between ACEs exposure and subsequent development of parent-reported ADHD; however, it is unclear whether ADHD symptoms mediate the relationship between ACEs and academic achievement. This study tested a model of mediation by ADHD symptoms between ACEs and academic achievement (measured by reading score). This retrospective cohort analysis utilized data from the Longitudinal Study on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), a data consortium exploring the impact of child maltreatment (n = 494). There were relatively even numbers of male and female child participants, and the majority of caregivers were either non-Hispanic White or Black. Path analyses were modeled for ACEs as a sum score and separately for individual ACE exposures, with number of symptoms of Inattention (IN) and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity (H/I) as mediators, and academic achievement as the outcome, adjusting for covariates. ACEs were highly prevalent in this sample (M = 5.10, SD = 1.90). After retaining significant covariates, significant direct associations (P < .05) were seen between ACE sum score and IN (β = .14) and H/I (β = .21), and between H/I and reading score (β=-.14). A higher ACE score was associated with lower reading scores through variation in H/I, but not IN. H/I mediated the relationship between ACEs and reading score in this high-risk population, providing new insight into relationships between ACEs and academic achievement, which can inform interventions.

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Data Availability

This publication utilizes data from the study, Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) Assessments 0–18 NDACAN Dataset Number 170 (Desmond K. Runyan, Howard Dubowitz, Diana J. English, Jonathan Kotch, Alan Litrownik, Richard Thompson and Terri Lewis & The LONGSCAN Investigator Group), which have been provided by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN), a service of the Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Nothing herein should be construed to indicate the support or endorsement of its content by the collector of the original data, their funding agency, NDACAN, or ACF/DHHS.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Training Program Grant T77MC25732. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Developmental- Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd., MS #146, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, USA

    Joshua Kallman, Douglas L. Vanderbilt & David J. Schonfeld

  2. Keck School of Medicine of USC, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1975 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Joshua Kallman, Douglas L. Vanderbilt, Karen Kay Imagawa, David J. Schonfeld & Alexis Deavenport-Saman

  3. Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd, MS#76, Los Angeles, CA, 90027, USA

    Mary Rose Mamey, Karen Kay Imagawa & Alexis Deavenport-Saman

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by JK, AD and MM The first draft of the manuscript was written by JK and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Joshua Kallman.

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This study was determined to be exempt by the Institutional Review Board of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

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Consent to participate and consent to publish were not applicable for this study since it was a secondary data analysis on an already-existing dataset and determined to be exempt by the Institutional Review Board.

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Kallman, J., Mamey, M.R., Vanderbilt, D.L. et al. Hyperactivity and Impulsivity Symptoms Mediate the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Reading Achievement: A LONGSCAN Cohort Study. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01655-1

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