Self-report and administrative adversity measures can have opposite associations with adult cognition: Evidence from 10 years of data

Adversity research typically relies on self-report or aggregates of administrative data, rarely combining measures from both data sources over time. Here, we leverage Dutch administrative data and self-report measures to enable fine-grained, longitudinal tracking of individuals’ environments over a decade. We examine associations between five adversity dimensions—neighborhood threat, unpredictability in neighborhood threat, crime victimization, material deprivation, and health issues—with executive functioning and working memory in two adult samples (N = 1,024; N = 737). Self-report and administrative measures were only moderately correlated, suggesting they capture partially distinct adversity facets. We find that associations with cognitive outcomes mainly occur for neighborhood-level measures. Critically, although associations with administrative and self-report measures converged for some cognitive outcomes, they diverged for others. Specifically, self-reported adversity predicted intact or lowered performance, while administrative measures predicted intact or enhanced performance. These findings highlight the importance of illuminating the effects of adversity through multiple lenses.