Severe stress in childhood can have a lasting effect on the brain throughout life. This could alter the parts of the brain responsible for learning, memory, stress management and emotions. Stressful events experienced at the age of 2-3 or 4 can negatively affect behavior, health, work, and even mate choice in adulthood. This is what researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the United States, suggest. Their study consisted of carrying out interviews with 128 children, on average 12 years old, who suffered early sexual abuse, abandonment or poverty. The brains of these children have been observed, in particular the hippocampus and the amygdala, two areas involved in emotion and the stress response. The images were compared to brain images of children from modest backgrounds who had happy childhoods.
Neurobiological changes
As a result, children who experienced severe stress had smaller tonsils and hippocampi than others.
Should we conclude from this that stress in childhood will necessarily reflect negatively in adult life? The researchers remain cautious: the observations represent the markers of a neurobiological change, but do not augur an individual’s destiny.
This study is not the first to focus on effects of stress on the brain. The latest from the University of Iowa warns of chronic stress. It can give memory lapses with age.
