Early Childhood Adversity

Asia Marion
11-04-16
Research Proposal

The Effects of Early Childhood Adversity on Health and Brain Development

INTRODUCTION Early childhood is the critical time period in human development when biological and environmental factors mesh and serve as key influences. The experiences encountered during this period play a role in determining health across a lifespan, which raises the question: How does exposure to early childhood adversity, such as extreme poverty, abuse, parental death, and neglect influence health outcomes and the developing brain? A number of theoretical studies and research reveal that exposure to early childhood adversity provokes a toxic stress response that is associated with lifelong consequences. Prolonged activation
Given this finding, I have concluded that early childhood adversity alters the biological composition of the brain. In other words, adverse experiences have the power to change genetic expressions through the constant application of childhood stressors. Furthermore, a study found that childhood adversity is associated with shorter telomeres. Shorter telomeres are linked with health behaviors such as: physical activity, obesity, smoking, age-related diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and heart failure. In conclusion, exposure to early childhood adversity has negative health outcomes as revealed through various longitudinal studies and research. Exposure to early childhood adversity can lead to hypertension caused by depression-anxiety disorders, multiple diseases and illnesses requiring medical attention, cancer, suicidal behavior, and the development of shorter telomeres during brain
The independent variables are the indicators of adversity, such as low socioeconomic status, abuse (physical, emotional, substance abuse by a family member), parental death and/or neglect. Adverse exposures are measured before the age of 18 and assessed at an individual level. Health and brain development outcomes are the dependent variables in which measurements are defined by negative and positive health and disruptions in brain development. The World Health Organization defines health as “the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Negative health is considered an effect contributing to ill health including death, lack of well-being, and loss of function. The brain develops in a predictable sequence beginning with the most basic function, the formation of neurons or neurogenesis, and ending with a complex function known as pruning, which is the process of eliminating unimportant connections and strengthening the necessary connections that make the brain more efficient. How the brain develops is dependent on the interaction between genetics and environment. Adversity disrupts brain development by epigenetic shifts, which cause abnormal regulation of the stress-response system; it alters