Exposure to adverse early circumstances affects the developing brain in ways that increase risk for later problems¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2021: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Adverse early circumstances alter the developing brain in ways that increase risk for a myriad of problems. → Bick 2016

Evidence¶

Bick 2016¶

Bick, J., Nelson, C. (2016). Early Adverse Experiences and the Developing Brain. Neuropsychopharmacol. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.252

q2 · i? · review · r?

This is the review's own synthesis statement: it reviews "a growing body of evidence suggesting" that adversity exposure affects the developing brain and raises risk for many problems. The supplied text prints no pooled effect size for this assertion.

"We review a growing body of evidence suggesting that exposure to adverse circumstances affects the developing brain in ways that increase risk for a myriad of problems."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Early intervention can remediate neurodevelopmental consequences associated with maltreatment or institutional rearing
• Children exposed to early adversity are at increased risk for a broad range of developmental difficulties affecting both cognitive and emotional adjustment — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Chronicity, developmental timing, and intensity of adversity exposure shape children's neurobiological stress responses — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Early life stress disrupts dopaminergic reward circuitry in animals and humans, with altered reward learning and links to depressive and anxiety symptoms — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Chronic HPA axis activation via CRH and glucocorticoids is proposed to partially mediate the neural effects of early life stress — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The probability of school failure increases as a function of the timing and length of children's exposure to relational adversity — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Threat and deprivation show overlapping effects on PFC-amygdala connectivity and hippocampal volume — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Unpredictability and lack of contingent caregiver responding in childhood is associated with increased adolescent externalizing behaviors and altered prefrontal-hippocampal-amygdala circuits — a narrower finding that bears on this claim