Consequences of developmental stress in humans: Adversity experienced during childhood and adolescence

Abstract

Early life stress is a term used to describe adversities which may occur during childhood and adolescence. The majority of human studies focus on negative outcomes resulting from early life stress. There is an emerging research field which aims to investigate possible positive outcomes of early life stress. In this chapter, human studies are reviewed with regard to both maladaptive and adaptive consequences of early life stress. Recent findings suggest that early life stress is associated with central nervous alterations, altered physiological stress responses, impaired cognitive functioning as well as an increased risk of developing behavior problems, and somatic and psychiatric illnesses. Early life stress may also result in posttraumatic growth (PTG) which describes changes in self-perception, interpersonal relationships, and worldview. A psychobiological stress model is proposed to integrate the findings.