Deprivation may explain the link between early adversity and developmental outcomes in adolescence

Experiences of early adversity due to poverty, abuse, and neglect are known to interfere with children’s cognitive and emotional development. Recent research in Psychological Science expands on past work by indicating that experiences of deprivation and threat may influence children’s psychological development differently. That is, early deprivation experiences, such as parental neglect and financial difficulties, appear to be more closely associated with cognitive and emotional functioning in adolescence than early threat experiences, such as exposure to abuse.