Global InformationStress in early childhood information
Early childhood is a critical period in a child's life that includes ages from conception to five years old.[1][2] Psychological stress is an inevitable part of life. Human beings can experience stress from an early age. Although stress is a factor for the average human being, it can be a positive or negative molding aspect in a young child's life.[3]
A certain amount of stress is normal and necessary for survival. A few stressors can be manageable for young children; stress can be beneficial by helping children develop skills needed to adapt to a new set of circumstances and deal with dangerous and intimidating situations. Some experts have theorized that there is a point where prolonged or excessive stress becomes harmful and can lead to serious health effects.[4] When stress builds up in early childhood, neurobiological factors are affected.[1] In turn, levels of the stress hormone cortisol exceed normal ranges.[1] This theory however is based on animal studies and cross-sectional studies in humans, and the proposed impacts on brain centers have not been found in a landmark twin study[5] and studies where neurobiological factors were measured in humans prior to stress or trauma exposure.[6][7]
Researchers have proposed three distinct types of responses to stress in young children: positive, tolerable, and toxic.[8] These labels are based on theorized differences in lasting physiological changes occurring as a result of the intensity and duration of the stress response.[9]
Stress is caused by internal or external influences that disrupt an individual's normal state of well-being.[10] These influences are capable of affecting health by causing emotional distress and leading to a variety of physiological changes.[4] Internal stressors include physiological conditions such as hunger, pain, illness or fatigue. Other internal sources of stress consist of shyness in a child, emotions, gender, age and intellectual capacity.[3] Childhood trauma has lifelong impact.
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences can include separation from family, home violence, racial/ethnic disparities, income disparities, neighborhood violence, mental illness or substance use disorder of caregiver, physical/sexual abuse, neglect, divorce, a new home or school, illness and hospitalization, death of a loved one, poverty, natural disasters, and adults’ negative discipline techniques (e.g. spanking).[3] Additional external stressors include prenatal drug exposure, such as maternal methamphetamine use, other maternal and paternal substance abuse, maternal depression, posttraumatic stress and psychosis.[3][11][12]
- ^ a b c Poulsen, Marie K., and Karen M. Finello. "Foundations of Early Childhood Mental Health: Public Health & Life Course Perspectives." Preventive Medicine 583 Lecture. University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 25 Aug. 2011. Lecture.
- ^ Lewis, Andrew James; Galbally, Megan; Gannon, Tara; Symeonides, Christos (2014). "Early life programming as a target for prevention of child and adolescent mental disorders". BMC Medicine. 12 (33): 33. doi:10.1186/1741-7015-12-33. PMC 3932730. PMID 24559477.
- ^ a b c d Jewett, Jan (1997). "Childhood Stress". Childhood Education. 73 (3): 172–73. doi:10.1080/00094056.1997.10522682.
- ^ a b Middlebrooks, J.S.; Audage, N.C. (2008). The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan (PDF). Atlanta, Georgia: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-05.
- ^ Gilbertson, MW; Shenton, ME; Ciszewski, A; et al. (2002). "Smaller hippocampal volume predicts pathologic vulnerability to psychological trauma". Nature Neuroscience. 5 (11): 1242–1247. doi:10.1038/nn958. PMC 2819093. PMID 12379862.
- ^ DiGangi, JA; Gomez, D; Mendoza, L; et al. (2013). "Pretrauma risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of the literature". Clinical Psychology Review. 33 (6): 728–744. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.05.002. PMID 23792469.
- ^ Schmidt, U; Willmund, GD; Holsboer, F; et al. (2015). "Searching for non-genetic molecular and imaging PTSD risk and resilience markers: Systematic review of literature and design of the German Armed Forces PTSD biomarker study". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 51: 444–458. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.08.020. PMID 25236294. S2CID 207459216.
- ^ "Key Concepts: Toxic Stress". Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ Shonkoff, J. P; Garner, A. S; Siegel, B. S; Dobbins, M. I; Earls, M. F; Garner, A. S; McGuinn, L; Pascoe, J; Wood, D. L (2011). "The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress". Pediatrics. 129 (1): e232–46. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2663. PMID 22201156.
- ^ Effects of Stress on the Body | Lachina. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2018, from https://lachina.com/blog/effects-stress-body/
- ^ Schechter, Daniel S; Willheim, Erica; McCaw, Jaime; Turner, J. Blake; Myers, Michael M; Zeanah, Charles H (2011). "The Relationship of Violent Fathers, Posttraumatically Stressed Mothers and Symptomatic Children in a Preschool-Age Inner-City Pediatrics Clinic Sample". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 26 (18): 3699–719. doi:10.1177/0886260511403747. PMID 22170456. S2CID 206562093.
- ^ Schechter, Daniel S; Willheim, Erica (2009). "Disturbances of Attachment and Parental Psychopathology in Early Childhood". Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 18 (3): 665–86. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2009.03.001. PMC 2690512. PMID 19486844.
