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Literature Review: The Impact of Childhood Adversity on Brain Development

Larissa Caroline da Silva Draczynski

Child and Youth Care Program, Centennial College

CYCP 116 - 002: Child & Adolescent Mental Health 2

Professor Amy Irene Gaudaur

April 04, 2023

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Literature Review: The Impact of Childhood Adversity on Brain Development

Childhood is a critical period of life for brain development, therefore what are the

consequences when the brain is exposed to adversities during this sensitive window of

time? Childhood adversity, such as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, has been

correlated with negative impacts on brain development affecting not only the brain

structure but also the individual’s mental health. This paper will analyze the impact of

childhood adversity on brain development including the brain structure, the correlation

with mental disorders, and the responses to minimize such impact.

Children who experience trauma during childhood can face a compromise in the

brain structure being formed. For instance, a study published by the Journal of Affective

Disorders with 54 patients outstood the score of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

(CTQ), used as a tool for childhood adversities measurement containing “28 questions

related to the five-dimensional subtypes of childhood maltreatment: emotional abuse,

physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect” (Kang et al., 2023,

p. 17), and 167 healthy controls, people with no or low CTQ score, demonstrated the

differences in brain structure. The 54 patients demographic were 20 men and 34 women

with an average age of 35. The study analyzed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of

the brain of each participant and it indicated that the patients with high CTQ scores were

significantly more susceptible to increased anxiety, major depressive disorder, brain

dysfunction and abnormalities (Kang et al., 2023, p. 20). Therefore, significant childhood

adversities can be seen as a contributing factor to a disbalance in brain structure during

lifespan.
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Another point is the correlation between childhood adversities and susceptibility

to mental disorders. As an example, the Corpus Callosum (CC) is an important brain

region and it indicated reduced Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in patients with high scores in

the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); however, “higher FA in CC was found in

adolescents more resilient to psychiatric disorders” (Kang et al., 2023, p. 20), thus the

patients with high CTQ score were more susceptible to psychiatric disorders.

Additionally, another study analyzing data suggests that potentially people exposed to

early-life stress will become vulnerable to mental disorders due to a “pipeline of

amplified signalling between the brain and immune system” (Coolen & Grattan, 2019, p.

431). The study indicates an association between early-life stress and the immune system

response as pro-inflammatory, as a result, mental disorders that benefit from

immunological disbalance such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and

schizophrenia (Coolen & Grattan, 2019, p. 430) will become a risk factor for children

facing significant adversities.

The response to minimize the impact of adversities in childhood is society

advocating pro-governmental interventions, programs, and policies. A child can be

exposed to trauma as early as prenatally, for instance, intergenerational trauma can affect

an entire community, and a fetus will present toxic stress even before being born. In

addition, a childhood being affected by prolonged stressful and traumatic events will

negatively impact brain development “disrupting brain architecture and thus learning,

memory, behaviour, physiology, emotional regulation, and executive functioning”

(Kimple & Kansagra, 2018, p. 95). The interventions to decrease the effect of childhood

adversities hasve to be thorough, considering all institutional levels, history, societal,

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financial and so forth. Furthermore, increasing protective factors “include characteristics

of family, community, and systems, such as safe, stable, nurturing relationships with

adult caregivers; socioeconomic advantages or supports; and cohesive social networks

and communities” (Kimple & Kansagra, 2018, p. 96) to support childhood and decrease

the risk factors playing the role of major stressors.

In conclusion, childhood adversity has a major impact on brain development. It

not only compromises the brain structure information but also it is a contributor to mental

disorders. Responses and interventions to minimize the impact of toxic stress in

childhood are crucial. Childhood adversities will lead to a lifespan of challenges to be

overcome, so becoming a supportive and protective adult to children provides them with

mechanisms to cope with such adversities.

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References

Coolen, L. M., & Grattan, D. R. (2019). Neuroimmune Impacts of Early-Life Stress on

Development and Psychopathology. In Current topics in behavioural

neurosciences (Vol. 43, pp. 430–433). Springer International Publishing AG.

https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2018_53

Kang, W., Kang, Y., Kim, A., Kim, H., Han, K.-M., & Ham, B.-J. (2023). Gray and

white

matter abnormalities in major depressive disorder patients and its associations

with childhood adversity. Journal of Affective Disorders, 330, 16–23.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.145

Kimple, K. S., & Kansagra, S. M. (2018). Responding to Adverse Childhood

Experiences: It Takes a Village. North Carolina Medical Journal (Durham,

N.C.),

79(2), 95–98. https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.79.2.95