Penn study details the effects of poverty and trauma on the brain and youth behavior – ScienceDaily

"The findings underscore the need to pay attention to the environment in which the child is growing up." Poverty and trauma have strong badociations with behavioral and brain development, and their effects are much deeper than they are at home. it was previously thought, "said lead author Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, neurology and radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine's University of Pennsylvania and director of the Lifespan Brain Institute.

Parents and educators are divided into opposing camps regarding the question of how adversity in childhood affects development in mature and healthy adulthood. Opinions differ from "sparing the cane and spoiling the child" to concerns that any stressful condition such as bullying will have adverse and lasting effects. Psychologists and social scientists have documented the lasting effects of growth in poverty on cognitive functioning, and clinicians have observed the effects of childhood trauma on many disorders, but mainly in the context of stress disorders. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There is also anecdotal evidence, supported by some research, that adversity accelerates maturation – children become young adults more quickly, physically and mentally. Neuroscientists, aware of the complexity of the changes that must undergo the brain during its transition from childhood to early adulthood, are suspected and more recently documented than the adversity of the brain. childhood affects important measures of the structure and functioning of the brain. But this study was the first to compare the effects of poverty (L-SES) to those who experienced an TSE in the same set of samples.

The researchers badyzed data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental cohort, which included 9,498 participants aged 8 to 21 years. The racially and economically diverse cohort includes data on socio-economic status, TSEs, neurocognitive performance and, in a subsample, multimodal neuroimaging by MRI.

The researchers found specific badociations of SSE and TSE with psychiatric symptoms, cognitive performance, and several abnormalities of brain structure.

The findings revealed that poverty was badociated with a slight increase in the severity of psychiatric symptoms, including mood / anxiety, phobias, externalizing behaviors (conduct disorder, ADHD) and psychosis, compared to individuals not living in poverty. The magnitude of the effects of TSEs on the severity of psychiatric symptoms was of an unexpected magnitude. TSEs were primarily badociated with PTSD, but the authors found that even a single TSE was badociated with a moderate increase in the severity of all psychiatric symptoms badyzed, and that two or more TSEs had significant effects, particularly with respect to PTSD. mood / anxiety and psychosis. In addition, these effects were greater for women than for men.

With neurocognitive functioning, the case has been reversed; Poverty has been badociated with moderate to significant cognitive deficits, particularly in the functioning of the executive (abstraction and mental flexibility, attention, working memory) and in complex reasoning. It has been found that TSEs have very subtle effects, with individuals having two or more TSEs with mild complex cognitive impairment, but with slightly higher memory performance.

Poverty and TSEs have been badociated with abnormalities in the anatomy, physiology and connectivity measurements of the brain. Associations against poverty were widespread, while TSEs were badociated with more specific differences in the limbic and frontoparietal regions of the brain, which deal with emotions, memory, executive functions, and complex reasoning.

The researchers also found evidence that adversity is badociated with the early onset of puberty. Poverty and TSE are related to the physical maturation of the child at an earlier age. The researchers also found the same effects on the brain, with results revealing that a higher proportion of children who experienced adversity exhibited the characteristics of the adult brain. This affects development because the careful stratification of structural and functional connectivity in the brain takes time, and early maturity could prevent the necessary skill development.

"In total, our study does not show any evidence for the" save the wand "approach, but instead we have observed unexpected effects of TSEs on psychiatric symptoms and poverty on neurocognitive functioning." The study suggests that it makes sense that parents and all who raise a child are trying to protect him from exposure to adversity. And for those dealing with children who have already been exposed to adversity – as is unfortunately the case today. with refugees from around the world – expect an increase in symptoms and consider cognitive remediation, a type of rehabilitative treatment designed to improve attention, memory and other cognitive functions. "

"The trauma experienced by young children can have lifelong consequences," said Ruben C. Gur, PhD, lead author of the study, professor of psychiatry, radiology and neurology and director of the Brain Behavior Laboratory. "Of course, it would be better if we were able to reduce poverty and prevent trauma.Other than that, the study calls for more attention to the socio-economic context of the child and the effects In addition, mental health professionals should be particularly aware that traumatic events are badociated not only with PTSD, but also with elevations in a number of areas, including: Mood, anxiety and psychosis. "