October 23, 2017.
According to a recent study, a childhood in a precarious environment would lead an individual to have their first sexual intercourse and their first child earlier, and would result in overweight and poorer general health in adulthood.
Precarious childhood and early sexual intercourse seem linked
An individual who would have lived his childhood in a precarious environment would be in less good health, than a person whose childhood will have been more favorable to a good development.. This conclusion has just been drawn by a researcher from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), in a publication published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
Based on the observation that this situation is observable in animals, the researcher wanted to determine if this model was applicable in humans.. To do this, she asked 1,000 volunteers aged 19 to 87 to answer several questions about their environment during their childhood, the age at which they had their first sexual intercourse, their first child, their state of health, etc.
An observation that should lead the public authorities to carry out awareness-raising actions
” Analysis of these data shows that there is an association between precariousness during childhood and the reproductive and health strategy of individuals: earlier beginnings of sexual life, arrival of the first child earlier, poorer health at adulthood (overweight, smoking …) », Explains Inserm in a press release. In other words, ” receiving signals indicating that the environment is dangerous during the juvenile period will cause the organism to adjust its strategy towards early reproduction, at the expense of longer term investments in the maintenance and repair of the body “.
For the author of this study, since the exposure of individuals to precarious environments when they are children has lifelong health consequences, it is now important that these conclusions are transformed into targeted public policy strategies.
Gaelle Latour
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