Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Dec 16;12(1):34.
doi: 10.1186/s11689-020-09337-y.

Early life stress and development: potential mechanisms for adverse outcomes

Karen E Smith  1 , Seth D Pollak  2
Affiliations
Review

Early life stress and development: potential mechanisms for adverse outcomes

Karen E Smith et al. J Neurodev Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic and/or extreme stress in early life, often referred to as early adversity, childhood trauma, or early life stress, has been associated with a wide range of adverse effects on development. However, while early life stress has been linked to negative effects on a number of neural systems, the specific mechanisms through which early life stress influences development and individual differences in children's outcomes are still not well understood.

Main text: The current paper reviews the existing literature on the neurobiological effects of early life stress and their ties to children's psychological and behavioral development.

Conclusions: Early life stress has persistent and pervasive effects on prefrontal-hypothalamic-amygdala and dopaminergic circuits that are at least partially mediated by alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function. However, to date, this research has primarily utilized methods of assessment that focus solely on children's event exposures. Incorporating assessment of factors that influence children's interpretation of stressors, along with stressful events, has the potential to provide further insight into the mechanisms contributing to individual differences in neurodevelopmental effects of early life stress. This can aid in further elucidating specific mechanisms through which these neurobiological changes influence development and contribute to risk for psychopathology and health disorders.

Keywords: Developmental disorders; Early adversity; Early life stress; Neurobiological development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Pollak SD. Early adversity and mechanisms of plasticity: integrating affective neuroscience with developmental approaches to psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol. 2005;17(3):735–752. doi: 10.1017/S0954579405050352. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cicchetti D. Resilience under conditions of extreme stress: a multilevel perspective. Wolrd Psychiatry. 2010;9(3):145–154. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andersen SL. Trajectories of brain development: point of vulnerability or window of opportunity? Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2003;27(1–2):3–18. doi: 10.1016/S0149-7634(03)00005-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson MH. Functional brain development in humans. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2001;2(7):475–483. doi: 10.1038/35081509. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hill J, Inder TE, Neil J, Dierker D, Harwell J, Van Essen D. Similar patterns of cortical expansion during human development and evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010;107(29):13135–13140. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1001229107. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types