Living
with domestic violence, living in poverty or in a threatening neighbourhood,
being made to work in uncomfortable or unsafe conditions or living with a
family or orphanage where one experiences abuse or neglect are just some of the
chronic stressors some people experienced as children.
We’ve seen how some of these children grow up and turn to
alcohol, drugs or sex to escape reality. It’s common knowledge that a bad
childhood leaves emotional scars that remains with us through adulthood and
affects how we think and act, but what do scientific findings say about this?
A
study published online in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences has turned its particular focus on
poverty and its relationship to how the brain works as an adult in terms of
dealing with negative emotions. Researchers found that study participants who
were from lower family incomes at age 9 showed more activity in the regions of
the brain associated with psychological disorders related to emotions such as
depression, anxiety, impulsive aggression and substance abuse when they became
adults. These people showed less activity
in the region of the brain known for its role in dealing with negative
emotions.
Dr. K. Luan Phan, psychiatry professor at the University of
Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and senior author of the study said
that the negative effect of poverty may lead to “a cascade of increasing risk
factors” for the kids to fall into physical and psychological troubles in
adulthood. The most important takeaway from the findings, according to Dr.
Phan, was how much chronic
stress an individual goes through from childhood through adolescence, and
this determined the extent to which poverty affected brain functioning when
dealing with emotions, particularly negative ones.
The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
adds to this by saying that a childhood filled with positive experiences lays
the foundation for healthy adults who
are of great benefit to society by contributing in a valuable and productive
way.
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