Stroop Performance, Dissociation, and Trauma Exposure in a Community Sample of Children

ABSTRACT

Extending previous research with adults, the current study examined Stroop task performance under selective and divided attention demands in a community sample of school-age children (N = 97). Stroop interference scores in both attention conditions were calculated. Higher levels of child-reported dissociation were associated with better interference control under divided attention conditions and worse control under selective attention conditions; lower levels of dissociation were associated with the opposite pattern. Both family violence exposure and Stroop interaction scores explained unique variance in dissociation scores. Although research with adults has generally assumed or implied that cognitive correlates of dissociation are a consequence of dissociation, the current findings with school-age children suggest that future research should evaluate executive function performance (in this case, interference control) as a possible risk factor for dissociation.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociation
• attention
• Stroop
• violence
• child abuse

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Ann Chu, Rheena Pineda, Jackie Rea, Julia Burrell-Smith, Reilly Anderson, and undergraduate research assistants for project assistance; community agencies for assistance with recruitment; and Dr. Jennifer Freyd for helpful feedback on a previous version of the manuscript.

This project was funded by the University of Denver PROF Award to Anne P. DePrince.

Notes

1. Of the 32 children in the family violence group, 6 were reported to have experienced sexual maltreatment only, and the nature of the relationship to the adult was not specified. Because familial trauma could not be ruled out in these six cases and exposure to sexual abuse was more similar to the events experienced by those in the familial trauma group than the nonfamilial trauma group (e.g., medical traumas, accidents), these 6 children were classified in the familial trauma group.

2. Not surprising given variability in children's reaction times, a handful of outlying data points were noted in interference scores. Analyses using winsorized data that brought outlying data points back to 3 SD above the group mean were comparable to those using the original interference scores.