Childhood Adversity Predicts Later-life Memory Lapses, Irritation and Interference

TL;DR

Childhood adversity is linked to more frequent memory lapses and greater irritation and interference from these lapses in later life.

Contribution

This study shows that childhood adversity uniquely predicts memory-related irritation and interference more than memory lapse frequency in older adults.

Findings

All CA domains predicted daily prospective memory (PM) lapses, with physical neglect remaining significant in full models.

Emotional and physical neglect predicted PM-related irritation, while physical abuse and neglect predicted PM-related interference.

Childhood adversity more strongly predicted retrospective memory (RM) lapse-related irritation and interference than PM lapse frequency.

Abstract

This study investigated relationships between childhood adversity (CA) domains—abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and neglect (physical, emotional) — daily prospective memory (PM) and retrospective memory (RM) lapse frequency, and memory lapse (ML) related irritation and interference in middle-to-older adults. Participants (N = 1,236; Mage=62.5±10.2) disclosed histories of CA in the 2013-2014 wave of the Midlife in the United States longitudinal study and completed eight nightly reports on MLs in the 2017-2019 wave. In univariate analyses, all five CA domains were significantly associated with PM (p<.001 - .007). Additionally, emotional and physical neglect were univariately significant for RM (p<.001). In the full ML model, no CA domains significantly predicted RM, and only emotional neglect (p=.010) significantly predicted PM. Emotional abuse (p=.039), sexual abuse (p=.032) and physical neglect (p=.007) predicted PM-related irritation, while sexual (p=.044), physical abuse (p=.045) and physical neglect (p=.001) predicted PM-related interference. Physical neglect (p =.035) also remained significant in the full PM model. For RM-related irritation and interference, all CA domains were significant univariately (p<.001). In the full RM model, physical abuse predicted irritation (p =.008), while physical (p=.003) and sexual (p=.017) abuse predicted interference. Overall, every domain of CA predicted daily PM lapses (p = <.001 - .007) and even more strongly predicted RM lapse-related irritation and interference (p = < .001). Findings suggest a history of CA increases the severity of RM lapse-related interference and irritation more than PM lapse frequency in later life. Future person-centered analyses are needed to assess the potential for shared variance between CA domains resulting in suppression effects.