Lifetime stressor exposure, executive functioning, and internalizing symptoms during emerging adulthood
=1.73, 66.01% women/transwomen, 28.08% White-European/North American), lifetime stressor exposure was indexed using the Stress and Adversity Inventory, internalizing symptoms were measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and executive functioning was measured as a latent factor indicated by multiple performance-based measures. Analyses were conducted using regression and path analyses. In separate models, both childhood and adulthood adversity exposure predicted greater internalizing symptoms, but when entered as competing predictors in the same model, only adulthood adversity continued to predict psychopathology. No evidence for an indirect association involving executive functioning was detected, although higher childhood adversity was associated with better executive functioning. These results highlight differential associations between adversity timing, internalizing symptoms, and executive functioning during emerging adulthood, with minimal evidence of executive functioning as an indirect path linking adversity to internalizing symptoms.
Authors
- Dillon Thomas Browne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7445-6604)
- Mark Wade
- Liam Wright
- Gloria Rebello
- George M. Slavich
Institutions
- University of Waterloo (CA)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Toronto (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2026-03-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44738-4
- Primary Topic
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Canada Research Chairs
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada