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Cited by 295Child Abuse and TraumaChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentChild Welfare and Adoption

The theory of latent vulnerability: reconceptualizing the link between childhood maltreatment and psychiatric disorder

Open access
McCrory, Eamon J., Viding, Essi·2015·Development and Psychopathology
DOI 10.1017/s0954579415000115
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Abstract

Maltreatment in childhood is associated with a significantly increased likelihood of psychiatric disorder that endures across the life span. If disorders emerge they tend to be more severe and less responsive to treatment. We introduce the concept of latent vulnerability as a way of conceptualizing the nature of this psychiatric risk. We argue that vulnerability to mental health problems can be understood as changes in a suite of neurocognitive systems that reflect adaptation or altered calibration to early neglectful or maltreating environments. Altered threat processing is presented as one exemplar candidate system. Heightened neurocognitive vigilance to threat is argued to reflect a calibration to an early at-risk environment that becomes maladaptive (and instantiates vulnerability) in the longer term. Other neurocognitive domains, including reward and memory processing, represent equally promising candidates for indexing latent vulnerability and warrant future enquiry. We suggest that the operationalization of latent vulnerability has the potential to guide a preventative psychiatry approach. Intervention currently occurs at two stages when maltreatment is confirmed: first, by addressing issues of risk; and second, by providing clinical intervention if a child meets criteria for psychiatric disorder. We argue that indexing latent vulnerability represents a third intervention opportunity, with the potential to target an indicated prevention approach for the most vulnerable children, offsetting risk trajectories before psychiatric disorders emerge.

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  • Childhood neglect increases the lifetime risk of developing a psychiatric disorder.

    “This hypothesis has also been described as “latent vulnerability,” suggesting that childhood neglect increases the lifetime risk of developing a psychiatric disorder (83).”

    From A Biopsychosocial Overview of the Opioid Crisis: Considering Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Health (2019) · cites this paper as [83]

  • The Theory of Latent Vulnerability suggests that one's genotype interacts with an adverse environment to create a neurocognitive phenotype, characterized by changes in reward processing (dopamine), threat processing (amygdala), and memory processing (hippocampus).

    “The Theory of Latent Vulnerability suggests that one’s genotype interacts with an adverse environment to create a neurocognitive phenotype, characterized by changes in reward processing (DA), threat processing (amygdala), and memory processing (hippocampus) [116].”

    From Separating the Signal from the Noise: How Psychiatric Diagnoses Can Help Discern Food Addiction from Dietary Restraint (2020) · cites this paper as [116]

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1 of the 104 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. McGlashan, T. H., & Johannessen, J. O. (1996). Early detection and interven- tion with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 201-222.
  2. Springer, J. F., & Phillips, J. L. (2007). The Institute of Medicine framework and its implication for the advancement of prevention policy, programs and practice (Prevention Policy Paper Series). Folsom, CA: EMT As- sociates.

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Authors
McCrory, E. J., & Viding, E.
Affiliations
University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
McCrory, Eamon J.
ORCID
Venue
Development and Psychopathology
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
2015-05
Volume
27
Issue
2
Pages
493-505
ISSN
  • 0954-5794 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-2198
DOI
10.1017/s0954579415000115
OpenAlex
W2099527079
Cited by
295
References
104
Citations by year
2026: 43 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 5
FWCI
2.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 5 d)
Locations
  • Development and Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K005723/1, ES/H007059/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
Keywords
child abuse, mental illness, threat processing, threat vigilance, reward processing, memory processes, mental health prevention, indicated prevention, risk trajectories
MeSH terms
Attention, Mental Disorders, Child, Child Abuse, Humans, Risk Factors

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