Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma
Date
2017-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Open
Abstract
Background: Prior research on adaptation after early trauma among black South African
women typically assessed resilience in ways that lacked contextual specificity. In addition, the
neurocognitive correlates of social and occupational resilience have not been investigated.
Objective: The primary aim of this exploratory study was to identify domains of neurocognitive
functioning associated with social and occupational resilience, defined as functioning
at a level beyond what would be expected given exposure to childhood trauma.
Methods: A sample of black South African women, N = 314, completed a neuropsychological
battery, a questionnaire assessing exposure to childhood trauma, and self-report
measures of functional status. We generated indices of social and occupational resilience
by regressing childhood trauma exposure on social and occupational functioning, saving the
residuals as indices of social and occupational functioning beyond what would be expected
given exposure to childhood trauma.
Results: Women with lower non-verbal memory evidenced greater social and occupational
resilience above and beyond the effects attributable to age, education, HIV status, and
depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition, women with greater occupational
resilience exhibited lower semantic language fluency and processing speed.
Conclusion: Results are somewhat consistent with prior studies implicating memory effects
in impairment following trauma, though our findings suggest that reduced abilities in these
domains may be associated with greater resilience. Studies that use prospective designs and
objective assessment of functional status are needed to determine whether non-verbal
memory, semantic fluency, and processing speed are implicated in the neural circuitry of
post-traumatic exposure resilience.
Description
CITATION: Denckla, C. A., et al. 2017. Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(1):1-10, doi:10.1080/20008198.2017.1394146.
Keywords
trauma; womens resilience; Sub-Saharan Africa; childhood abuse, childhood trauma
Citation
Denckla, C. A., et al. 2017. Associations between neurocognitive functioning and social and occupational resilience among South African women exposed to childhood trauma. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8(1):1-10, doi:10.1080/20008198.2017.1394146