Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma has profound, long-term effects on cognitive and emotional development. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to synthesis the evidence around the long-term impact of human childhood trauma on domains of cognition and emotion in order to inform interventions and public health strategies. METHODS: We systematically reviewed 465 studies from PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar, 9 studies were included after duplicates were removed and inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and all 9 studies were aimed at low-income people in the United States. Data on study design, trauma types, and cognitive/emotional outcomes were extracted. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (RoB 2). Random-effects meta-analysis and subgroup analyses (processing speed, attention, working memory, emotion regulation, executive function) were conducted using R software. RESULTS: Childhood trauma was associated with significant deficits in: Attention (SMD = 2.37, 95% CI: [5.75, 10.50]) Working memory (SMD = 3.55, 95% CI: [2.18, 9.28]) Emotion regulation (SMD = 1.25, 95% CI: [1.12, 3.62]) Executive function (SMD = 1.61, 95% CI: [0.06, 3.28]) Processing speed showed smaller deficits (SMD = -0.48, 95% CI: [-1.91, 0.94]). High heterogeneity (I(2): 77-98%) reflected variability in trauma types and assessments. The pooled effect size (SMD = 1.57, 95% CI: [-0.12, 3.26]) highlighted trauma's pervasive impact. CONCLUSION: Childhood trauma disproportionately impairs attention and working memory. These findings, however, point to the importance of early screening, trauma-informed care and targeted interventions to ameliorate the long-term consequences of trauma, even with high heterogeneity. Methodological variability should be addressed to inform prevention and treatment strategies in future research, as well as resilience factors explored.