Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40123116›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of developmental psychology2025

Cumulative stressor exposure and cognitive functioning in late childhood: The role of inflammation.

Izabella Polgar-Wiseman, Marta Francesconi, Eirini Flouri

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of developmental psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Izabella Polgar-WisemanDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.
Marta FrancesconiDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.
Eirini FlouriDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6207-4847

Funding

Economic and Social Research CouncilWellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study examined whether the experience of stressors since infancy is related to executive function and social communication in late childhood via inflammation, using data from 4457 participants of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). It explored whether the effect of stressful life events (from 6 months to 8.5 years) on working memory, response inhibition, selective attention, attentional control, communication problems and social cognition (at ages 10-11 years) was mediated by inflammation (interleukin 6 and C-reactive protein) at age 9 years. While the study did not find evidence for mediation, it showed that, in the general child population, inflammation was related to executive function impairments, and stressful life events were related to social communication difficulties. These associations were small but robust to confounder adjustment. If causal, they suggest that reducing inflammation could improve executive functioning, the prerequisite to any purposeful and goal-directed action.

Indexed as

Adverse Childhood ExperiencesExecutive FunctionInflammationSocial CognitionStress, PsychologicalAttentionChildChild, PreschoolCognitive DysfunctionC-Reactive ProteinFemaleHumansInfantInhibition, PsychologicalInterleukin-6Longitudinal StudiesC-Reactive ProteinIL6 protein, humanInterleukin-6adverse life eventsALSPACexecutive functioninflammationsocial communication

Identifiers

PMID40123116
PMCPMC12505829

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.