Spatial working memory in young adolescents with different childhood trajectories of internalizing, conduct and...

In children, internalizing and externalizing problems impact on learning. However, there is limited research on the specific impact of such problems on spatial working memory (SWM), strongly related to cognitive ability and children's learning.

We explored distinct trajectories of internalizing problems and externalizing problems (conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention) in a large general-population sample of children followed from age 3 to age 11 years. We then assessed their role in SWM performance at age 11 years.

Data were drawn from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study. Our analytic sample was children with data on SWM at age 11 years (N = 12,589).

There were two stages of data analysis. Trajectory group membership was firstly estimated by group-based trajectory modelling for internalizing problems, conduct problems, and hyperactivity/inattention at ages 3-11 years. Multiple regression then assessed the relationship between SWM at age 11 years and trajectory group membership after accounting for confounders.

Trajectories of internalizing, conduct, and hyperactivity/inattention symptoms across ages 3 to 11 years were related to SWM at age 11 years, even after controlling for confounding variables. For each of the three symptom domains, poor SWM was most consistently found in children with chronically high levels of symptoms.

In general, atypical patterns of internalizing problems, conduct problems, and hyperactivity/inattention in childhood were related to poorer SWM in early adolescence.