Perceived uncontrollability as a potential mechanism of parental child abuse predicting executive dysfunction in adulthood 18 years later

Although it is well-established that child abuse precedes and predicts poorer executive functioning (EF), the potential mechanisms are not well understood. We thus used counterfactual mediation analysis to test how perceived control (lower personal mastery or higher perceived uncontrollability) mediated maternal or paternal child abuse, predicting lower future EF scores. Community adults from two separate samples ( N = 3,291 and 2,550 in Samples 1 and 2) completed a retrospective parental child abuse self-report at Time 1 (T1), a trait-level perceived control self-report at T2, and performance EF tests at T3. Time intervals spanned approximately 6 months and 9 years in Samples 1 and 2. Stronger T1 maternal and paternal child abuse consistently predicted higher T2 uncontrollability (Cohen's d = 0.232-1.175), which then predicted lower T3 EF scores ( d = -0.411 to -0.244). Higher uncontrollability consistently mediated the effect of higher maternal and paternal child abuse predicting poorer EF scores ( d = -0.229 to -0.164). Although mastery mediated the effect of maternal, but not paternal, abuse on future EF in Sample 1, this mediation effect did not survive in Sample 2. Sensitivity analyses testing for nonlinearities and adjusting for age and the predictor-mediator interaction implied similar findings in both samples. Uncontrollability, instead of mastery, might be a key mechanism accounting for the pathway from early-life parental abuse to EF outcomes. Assessing and targeting perceived uncontrollability and EF and harnessing precision medicine approaches in prevention programs and treatments might optimize psychotherapies for individuals exposed to child abuse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Cognition · Developmental psychology · Executive functions · Mechanism (biology · Psychiatry · Replication (statistics · Clinical Psychology · Cognitive Abilities and Testing · Psychology