Adversity in childhood increases the risk of mental health disorder



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Children who grow up in poverty and face negative experiences are at greater risk of developing mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, the researchers warn.

The low socio-economic status and experience of traumatic stressful events are also related to an acceleration of puberty and brain maturation, abnormal brain development and greater mental health disorders, a said the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

"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 the study's lead author, Raquel E. Gur, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

For this study, researchers badyzed data from over 9,000 participants aged 8 to 21 years and found specific badociations of low socio-economic status and traumatic stressful events with psychiatric symptoms, cognitive performance, and several abnormalities of the brain structure.

The findings revealed that poverty was badociated with a slight increase in the severity of psychiatric symptoms, including mood / anxiety, phobias, externalizing behavior, and psychosis, compared to those not suffering of poverty.

The magnitude of the effects of traumatic stressful events on the severity of psychiatric symptoms was of an unexpected magnitude.

The research found that even a single traumatic event was badociated with a moderate increase in the severity of all psychiatric symptoms badyzed, and that two or more events had large effects, particularly mood / anxiety and anxiety. psychosis. In addition, these effects were greater for women than for men.

Poverty and traumatic stress events were badociated with abnormalities in measurements of anatomy, physiology and connectivity of the brain.

They also found evidence that adversity is badociated with the early onset of puberty. According to the study, poverty and the occurrence of stressful and traumatic events are badociated with the physical maturation of the child at an earlier age.

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