Abstract
Adversity-exposed youth tend to score lower on cognitive tests. However, the hidden talents approach proposes some abilities are enhanced by adversity, especially under ecologically relevant conditions. Two versions of an attention-shifting and working memory updating task—one abstract, one ecological—were administered to 618 youth (Mage = 13.62, SDage = 0.81; 48.22% female; 64.56% White). Measures of environmental unpredictability, violence, and poverty were collected to test adversity × task version interactions. There were no interactions for attention shifting. For working memory updating, youth exposed to violence and poverty scored lower than their peers with abstract stimuli but almost just as well with ecological stimuli. These results are striking compared to contemporary developmental science, which often reports lowered performance among adversity-exposed youth.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1493-1510 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Child Development |
| Volume | 93 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The development of this research was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (73657) Research Network on Adaptations to Childhood Stress (Directors: Ellis & Frankenhuis). WEF’s contributions have been supported by the Dutch Research Council (016.155.195 and V1.Vidi.195.130), the James S. McDonnell Foundation (220020502), and the Jacobs Foundation (2017 1261 02). BJE’s contributions were supported by the Consortium for Families and Health Research (University of Utah) and the Sorenson Legacy Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.
