Explicit Memory in Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

描述(申请人提供)：虽然已有相当多的研究致力于了解成人创伤暴露的生物学和神经心理学后遗症，但很少有研究检查创伤儿童的这些过程。这项拟议研究的主要目的是测试儿童暴露于父母间攻击(IPA)、创伤后症状和生理唤醒以及外显记忆之间的关系。假设暴露在IPA环境中的儿童对中性学习环境中呈现的中性信息表现出比非暴露环境儿童更差的外显记忆。在暴露组中，假设创伤后症状和生理唤醒将部分调节IPA暴露和记忆表现之间的关系。这项拟议的研究还将考察儿童在IPA启动的学习环境中的外显记忆。在IPA启动条件下，暴露于IPA的儿童将表现出比对照儿童更强的生理反应性，并且在暴露组中，生理反应性将在IPA暴露与记忆成绩之间的关系中起中介作用。两组儿童(7-11岁)和他们的母亲将参加：1)接触IPA的儿童和2)在重要人口统计变量上匹配的对照儿童。如果假设得到支持，暴露在IPA中的儿童可能会面临学习和记忆问题的重大风险。因此，可以设计早期识别和干预计划，以防止此类问题的发展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While considerable research has been devoted to understanding the biological and neuropsychological sequelae of trauma exposure in adults, little research has been conducted to examine these processes in traumatized children. The primary aim of the proposed study is to test the relation between children's exposure to interparental aggression (IPA), posttraumatic symptomatology and physiological arousal, and explicit memory. It is hypothesized that children exposed to IPA will show poorer explicit memory than non-exposed children for neutral information presented in a neutral learning context. Within the exposed group, it is hypothesized that posttraumatic symptomatology and physiological arousal will partially mediate the relation between IPA exposure and memory performance. The proposed study will also examine children's explicit memory in an IPA-primed learning context. It is expected that children exposed to IPA will show greater physiological reactivity than control children in an IPA-primed condition and that, within the exposed group, physiological reactivity will mediate the relation between IPA exposure and memory performance. Two groups of children (aged 7-11}, and their mothers will participate: 1) children exposed to IPA and 2) control children, matched on important demographic variables. If hypotheses are supported, children exposed to IPA could be at significant risk for problems with learning and memory. As such, early identification and intervention programs could be designed to prevent the development of such problems.