Childhood trauma, cognitive control, and psychopathology in transitional-age youth: A mediation study

Transitional-age youth (TAY), 15-25 years, represent a risk period for psychiatric disorders. Childhood trauma is a broad, transdiagnostic vulnerability factor, but pathways linking early adversity to psychopathology remain unclear. This study investigated whether cognitive systems were associated with the relationship between childhood trauma and TAY psychopathology, and whether these associations differ between clinical (CP) and non-clinical (NCP) populations.

This multicenter case-control study included 17-year-old youth from clinical and community settings in Brussels (Belgium). The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04333797). Childhood trauma (CTQ) was modeled as the predictor, TAY psychopathology (YSR) as the outcome, and group status as a moderator. Cognitive systems variables, assessed though self-reported and neuropsychological measures, were tested as potential mediators. Mediation, moderation, and moderated-mediation were estimated using PROCESS macro in SPSS with bootstrapped confidence intervals.

The final sample comprised 242 TAY (69.7% female; CP = 126; NCP = 116). CP reported higher CTQ and YSR scores than NCP. Only self-reported cognitive control (BRIEF) was associated with the CTQ-YSR relationship in both groups, with significant indirect effects (CP: b = 0.10, 95% CI [0.02, 0.19]; NCP: b = 0.14, 95% CI [0.13, 0.24]). Moderated-mediation analyses showed no evidence of group differences in indirect effects. The final model explained 66% of YSR variance (p < 0.001).

Childhood trauma was associated with TAY psychopathology, and self-reported cognitive control was associated with this relationship across CP and NCP. Although causal inference is limited by cross-sectional design, these findings suggest that self-reported cognitive control may warrant further investigation as a transdiagnostic correlate in future longitudinal and intervention studies on the trauma-psychopathology relationship.