Early life adversity and psychopathology in preschoolers: mechanisms and moderators

Developmental theories suggest that exposure to early life adversity (ELA) alters developing emotional response systems, predicting risk for psychopathology across the life span. The present study examines whether negative emotionality (NE), a trait-like measure of emotionality that develops during early childhood, mediates the association between ELA and psychopathology in a representative sample of 917 preschoolers (M age = 3.84). Additionally, we explored whether cognitive control, which supports attentional focusing and inhibition and has been identified as a transdiagnostic protective factor, moderates the impact of heightened emotionality following adversity on psychopathology risk. We utilized parent report of adversity, psychopathology, and NE and parent report and task-based measures of cognitive control. Structural equation modeling of cross-sectional data revealed that NE partially mediated the link between ELA and psychopathology symptoms. Moreover, parent-reported cognitive control buffered this link such that the effect of ELA on psychopathology through NE was stronger in children with low versus high cognitive control. These results identify elevated NE as one mechanism linking ELA and psychopathology, specifically among children with poorer top-down control, informing our understanding of key risk and protective factors among adversity-exposed children.