Stress in early childhood
Early childhood is a critical period in a child's life that includes ages from birth to five years old.
[6][7] Researchers have proposed three distinct types of responses to stress in young children: positive, tolerable, and toxic.
[8] These labels are based on theorized differences in lasting physiological changes occurring as a result of the intensity and duration of the stress response.
[10] These influences are capable of affecting health by causing emotional distress and leading to a variety of physiological changes.
Other internal sources of stress consist of shyness in a child, emotions, gender, age and intellectual capacity.
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences can include separation from family, home violence, racial/ethnic disparities, income disparities, neighborhood violence, mental illness or substance use disorder of caregiver, physical/sexual abuse, neglect, divorce, a new home or school, illness and hospitalization, death of a loved one, poverty, natural disasters, and adults' negative discipline techniques (e.g.
[3][11][12] Researchers have proposed three different levels of stress seen in children during early childhood; positive, tolerable and toxic.
Allostatic load is "the wear and tear on the body" that accumulates as an individual is exposed to repeated or chronic stress.
[3] However, children with lower tolerance for stressors are more susceptible to alarm and find a broader array of events to be stressful.
[20] Situations that may promote stress in childhood include:[4][14][21] Brain circuits and testosterone's systems are formed and activated in early life.
[4] However, effects of the prolonged or frequent biological stress response may increase the risk for future physical and mental health problems in early childhood.
In humans, the stress response pathway consists of the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA).
[23] When epinephrine is released it will bind to various receptors in various target organs; this will exhibit multiple roles in the fight or flight mechanism.
[25] As newborns progress through the early months of life, babies experience increased cortisol levels during medical examinations.
[23] The decreased sensitivity of the HPA stress response may be due to physiological changes that occur in the system during early ages.
The physiological changes that may occur include improved negative feedback regulation of the HPA system, and decreased sensitivity of the adrenal cortex to ACTH.
[23] Also, the availability of adult support for young children helps safeguard the activity of the HPA stress system.
[25] It has been determined that when glucocorticoids, including cortisol, are placed into various parts of rats' brains for many days, CRH is produced in increased quantities.
Children who had experienced more intense and lasting stressful events in their lives posted lower scores on tests of spatial working memory.
[25] Research has found that infants and young children with higher cortisol levels produce smaller electrical changes in their brain when they are forming memories.
[25] In addition, children who have increased levels of cortisol, during daycare or nursery school time, experience extreme hardship upholding attention.
[25] Maintaining attention is a part of self-regulation, and these children are not able to regulate their behaviors due to the high cortisol levels.
While one concern is that children with higher levels of glucocorticoids may be prone to have the most problems with physical, social, mental, and motor development,[25] research has neither determined whether these effects are permanent, nor whether these associations would hold up under more rigorous prospective studies.
[27] According to Shonkoff, extreme, long-lasting stress in the absence of supportive relationships to buffer the effects of a heightened stress response can produce damage and weakening of bodily and brain systems, which can lead to diminished physical and mental health throughout a person's lifetime.
[28] Some of the physical cues that may be indicative of stress in children are rashes on skin and skin diseases such as eczema, acne and hair loss, worsening asthma, insomnia or hypersomnia, frequent headaches, muscle aches, vomiting, constipation and diarrhea.
[28] Extreme fatigue, chest pain, racing heartbeat, shaking, cold and clammy hands and feet, frequently ill, and even ulcers are some other physical symptoms manifested due to stress.
[29] Changes in mood or personality, increased irritability or aggressiveness are some psychological symptoms indicative of stress in children.
[31] The landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) conducted between 1995 and 1997 on 17,337 participants by Dr. Vincent Felitti from the Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization and Dr. Robert Anda from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrated the association of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with health and social problems as an adult.
As researchers followed participants over time, they discovered that a person's cumulative ACEs score has a strong, graded relationship to numerous health, social, and behavioral problems throughout their lifespan, including substance use disorders.
