Citation

Taylor SE. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2010; 107(19): 8507-8512.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, National Academy of Sciences)

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1003890107

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Research relating stress to health has progressed from anecdotal evidence in the 1930s and 1940s to complex multivariate models that identify underlying longitudinal mechanisms. Enduring questions that have guided our research are: How does the early life environment affect health outcomes into adulthood? How is the latent damage stored and what processes are set into motion that link early life stress to health disorders in the later years? An emerging perspective focuses on the accumulation of interacting dysregulations in multiple physiological systems that compromise the systems' abilities to respond flexibly to stressful circumstances. Our research explores: the antecedents of these processes, including genetic predispositions, the harshness of the early environment, and their interaction; the mediating roles of neural regulation in the brain and psychological and social resources; and health-related outcomes, such as metabolic functioning and inflammatory processes.

Both animal and human studies clearly indicate that the early environment affects biological functioning and health outcomes, not only in early life but throughout adulthood into old age, controlling for other risk factors. Research most clearly demonstrating this relationship includes evidence that low childhood socioeconomic status (SES) predicts adult health outcomes, controlling for adult SES and evidence that a harsh early family environment marked by abuse, conflict, cold non-nurturant parenting, or neglect predicts adverse health outcomes. In the case of low childhood SES, chronic exposure to such stressors as financial hardship, threat of violence, violence exposure, family turmoil, and instability in parental employment may confer an underlying risk profile that remains in latent form until adulthood, when early onset chronic diseases may begin to appear.

Language: en