A team of researchers from the University of Southampton, the University of Bath and King’s College London, have provided compelling evidence of the impact of adversity in childhood on neuropsychological functioning in adulthood. They also showed that neuropsychological difficulties may explain why early adversity is linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in later life.
Their study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, analysed neuropsychological function in 70 young adults who were exposed to severely depriving conditions in Romanian orphanages during Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime and subsequently adopted by British families.
