Abstract
Internalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety rise dramatically during emerging adulthood. Although both childhood and adulthood adversity are associated with internalizing symptoms during this period, the underlying transdiagnostic processes connecting adversity to internalizing symptoms are unclear. To investigate this, we examined how childhood and adulthood adversity are related to internalizing symptoms during emerging adulthood via individual differences in executive functioning. In a cross-sectional study of 203 participants aged 18–24 years (Mage=20.36, SDage=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.
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Data for this study are not available for public use because this was not retained as part of the participant consent process prior to study commencement. Code and output files for all analyses are available upon reasonable request.
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The study team thanks all participants for the time and energy they invested into completing this project.
Funding
This study was supported by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (PI: Wade; 430-2020-00170). LW was supported by a Doctoral Research Award from a Canada Graduate Scholarships through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Funding Reference Number: 187521). G.M.S. was supported by grant #OPR21101 from the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research/California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. DTB was supported by the Canada Research Chairs Program (950-232347, 2019–2024), the Ontario Early Researcher Award (ER19-15-224, 2021–2026). The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of these organizations, which had no role in designing or planning this study; in collecting, analyzing, or interpreting the data; in writing the article; or in deciding to submit this article for publication.
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Conceptualization: LW, DB, GMS, MW; Methodology: LW, GR, GMS, MW; Data Visualization: LW, GR, MW Writing: LW, MW; Critical Review and Editing: LW, GR, DB, GMS, MW.
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Wright, L., Rebello, G., Browne, D.T. et al. Lifetime stressor exposure, executive functioning, and internalizing symptoms during emerging adulthood. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44738-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44738-4
