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. 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. 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.

中文翻译：

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早期生活压力与发展：不良结果的潜在机制


早期生活中的慢性和/或极端压力，通常被称为早期逆境、童年创伤或早期生活压力，与对发育的广泛不利影响有关。然而，虽然早期生活压力与许多神经系统的负面影响有关，但早期生活压力影响儿童发育和个体差异的具体机制仍不清楚。本文回顾了有关早期生活压力的神经生物学影响及其与儿童心理和行为发展的关系的现有文献。早期生活压力对前额叶-下丘脑-杏仁核和多巴胺能回路具有持续和普遍的影响，这些影响至少部分是由下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴功能的改变介导的。然而，迄今为止，这项研究主要使用仅关注儿童事件暴露的评估方法。将影响儿童对压力源的解释的因素与压力事件结合起来进行评估，有可能进一步深入了解导致早期生活压力的神经发育影响的个体差异的机制。这有助于进一步阐明这些神经生物学变化影响发育并导致精神病理学和健康障碍风险的具体机制。