Research on early life adversity and later-life cognitive function is conflicting, with little evidence from low-income settings. We investigated associations between adverse childhood experiences and cognitive function in an older population who grew up under racial segregation during South African apartheid. Data were from 1,871 adults aged 40-79 in the population-representative "Health and Ageing in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa" in 2015. The adverse childhood experiences were having a parent unemployed for > 6 months; having parents who argued or fought often; having a parent who drank excessively, used drugs, or had mental health problems; and physical abuse from parents. Executive function, language, visuospatial ability, and memory were assessed with the Oxford Cognitive Screen-Plus, a validated cognitive assessment designed for low-income, low-literacy settings. We estimated associations between adverse childhood experiences and latent cognitive domain z-scores using multiple-indicator, multiple-cause structural equation models. Childhood adversities were reported by 15% (parental unemployment for > 6 months), 25% (parents argued or fought often), 25% (a parent drank excessively, used drugs, or had mental health problems), and 35% (physical abuse from parent) of respondents. They were not associated with cognition, except that having a parent who drank excessively, used drugs, or had mental health problems was associated with lower memory z-scores (-0.07; 95% CI [-0.13, -0.01]). This is one of the first investigations into later-life cognitive outcomes associated with early adversity in a population with a historical context of pervasive trauma, and suggests that later-life memory may be vulnerable to early adversity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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对南非农村老年人的一项基于人群的研究中的不良童年经历和特定领域的认知功能。

对早期生活逆境和晚年认知功能的研究是相互矛盾的，几乎没有来自低收入环境的证据。我们调查了在南非种族隔离期间在种族隔离下长大的老年人群的不良童年经历与认知功能之间的关联。数据来自 2015 年具有代表性的“非洲健康与老龄化：南非 INDEPTH 社区的纵向研究”中的 1,871 名 40-79 岁成年人。不利的童年经历是父母失业超过 6 个月；有经常争吵或打架的父母；父母酗酒、吸毒或有心理健康问题；和来自父母的身体虐待。执行功能、语言、视觉空间能力和记忆力通过 Oxford Cognitive Screen-Plus 进行评估，为低收入、低识字率环境设计的经过验证的认知评估。我们使用多指标、多原因结构方程模型估计了不良童年经历与潜在认知领域 z 分数之间的关联。15%（父母失业超过 6 个月）、25%（父母经常争吵或打架）、25%（父母酗酒、吸毒或有心理健康问题）和 35%（身体虐待）报告了童年逆境来自受访者的父母）。它们与认知无关，除了父母酗酒、吸毒或有心理健康问题与较低的记忆 z 分数相关（-0.07；95% CI [-0.13，-0.01]）。这是对具有普遍创伤历史背景的人群中与早期逆境相关的晚年认知结果的首批调查之一，并表明晚年记忆可能容易受到早期逆境的影响。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2020 APA，保留所有权利）。