Science has shown that children who experience stressful events are more likely to face poor health outcomes as adults, but new research shows the effects may show up much sooner—in fact, almost immediately.
Researchers at the University of Florida discovered that when children experience three or more stressful events, they are six times more likely to suffer from a mental, physical or learning disorder than children who didn't face these traumatic experiences, said Melissa Bright, a research coordinator for the UF Institute of Child Health Policy, or ICHP. Bright will present her findings at the American Psychosomatic Society's annual meeting today (March 12) in San Francisco.
"The kids who have the highest number of adverse experiences have the highest likelihood of having multiple conditions," Bright said. "It is not one poor health outcome; it is a whole slew of poor outcomes across the board."
UF researchers analyzed data collected as part of the National Survey for Child Health, which included nearly 96,000 children from across the United States. The survey contains data on the number of adverse experiences the children faced, including parental divorce, economic hardship, exposure to domestic and neighborhood violence, poor caregiver mental health, exposure to drug abuse and having a parent in jail. The parents also reported on any conditions their children had.
According to the study, between 11 and 24 percent of parents reported that their children had been diagnosed with at least one disorder. About 4 percent of parents reported that their children had at least one disorder from all three categories—mental, learning and physical. Children who had faced adverse experiences were more likely to have a disorder in every category than children who had not.
