Study: Abused Children Grow Up To Have Lower IQ Scores

A new study on the long-term consequences of childhood abuse and neglect has found that kids who suffer physical, emotional, or sexual trauma while growing up achieve lower scores on IQ intelligence tests when they are teens. The study was published in the most recent volume of the journal Pediatrics.

The study, which followed 7000 mothers and their children for the last 30 years, has found that children who were abused or neglected suffered significant cognitive impairments that followed them through their adolescent years. In fact, children who were victims of abuse or neglect struggled with math, literacy, and abstract reasoning.

More specifically, the study found that the almost-300 children who had been mistreated in some form during their formative years scored an average of three points lower on IQ tests as compared with children who were not exposed to abuse or neglect.

The study took socioeconomic factors and other related factors into consideration when compiling their data.