Adult Adversity Research Articles

Childhood Adversity and Engagement in Adulthood: The Role of Attachment as a Mediator.

A key assumption of occupational therapy is that engagement in meaningful activities is fundamental to one's health and well-being. Preliminary findings suggest a link between childhood adversity and engagement in meaningful activity. Childhood adversity is also linked to attachment insecurity in adulthood, and both represent barriers to health and well-being. It is unknown whether attachment insecurity is associated with meaningful activity engagement or how attachment insecurity influences the relationship between childhood adversity and meaningful activity engagement. To investigate the association between attachment insecurity and meaningful activity engagement and the role of attachment insecurity in the relationship between childhood adversity and engagement in meaningful activities in adulthood. Cross-sectional online survey. Community. Community-dwelling adults ages 18 yr or older, healthy, and able to understand standard English to complete the questionnaires. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling. Participants answered demographic questions and completed three questionnaires: the Engagement in Meaningful Activities Survey, Risky Families Questionnaire, and Experiences in Close Relationships-Short Form. Participants (N = 329) completed at least two of the three surveys, with most (n = 312) completing all three. More insecurely attached participants reported less engagement in meaningful activities. Both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety mediated the relationship between childhood adversity and meaningful activity engagement. The findings offer support for interrelations among childhood adversity, attachment insecurity, and engagement in meaningful activity. Further research is required to support the application of these findings in clinical settings. Plain-Language Summary: To our knowledge, this is the first study to establish a connection between attachment insecurity in adults and lower levels of engagement in meaningful activities during adulthood. The findings highlight the heightened vulnerability of adults who have a history of childhood adversity. The findings also emphasize the significance of (1) considering clients' childhood adversity and attachment patterns when assessing for and providing occupational therapy services and (2) advocating for the inclusion of trauma-informed practices for those with lower levels of meaningful occupational engagement.

The association between patterns of exposure to adverse life events and the risk of chronic kidney disease: a prospective cohort study of 140,997 individuals

Exposure to adverse life events is linked to somatic disorders. The study aims to evaluate the association between adverse events at varying life stages and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), a condition affecting about 10% population worldwide. This prospective cohort study included 140,997 participants from the UK Biobank. Using survey items related to childhood maltreatment, adulthood adversity and catastrophic trauma, we performed latent class analysis to summarize five distinct patterns of exposure to adverse life events, namely “low-level exposure”, “childhood exposure”, “adulthood exposure”, “sexual abuse” and “child-to-adulthood exposure”. We used Cox proportional hazard regression to evaluate the association of patterns of exposure to adverse life events with CKD, regression-based mediation analysis to decompose the total effect, and gene-environment-wide interaction study (GEWIS) to identify interactions between genetic loci and adverse life events. During a median follow-up of 5.98 years, 2734 cases of incident CKD were identified. Compared with the “low-level exposure” pattern, “child-to-adulthood exposure” was associated with increased risk of CKD (hazard ratio 1.37, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.65). BMI, smoking and hypertension mediated 11.45%, 9.79%, and 4.50% of this total effect, respectively. Other patterns did not show significant results. GEWIS and subsequent analyses indicated that the magnitude of the association between adverse life events and CKD differed according to genetic polymorphisms, and identified potential underlying pathways (e.g., interleukin 1 receptor activity). These findings underscore the importance of incorporating an individual’s psychological encounters and genetic profiles into the precision prevention of CKD.

Exposure to Childhood Adversity and Intimate Partner Violence in a Sample of Incarcerated Women in Australia.

Women who use violence represent one of the fastest growing groups within the Australian prisoner population, including Aboriginal women who are more likely to be incarcerated than non-Aboriginal women for violent crimes. Many incarcerated women report histories of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intimate partner violence. This exploratory study examines baseline data from a sample of 167 women in 3 Western Australia women's prisons enrolled in a gender-specific violent behavior program. It describes their exposure to intimate partner violence, head injury, and childhood adversities. Overall, 94% of women had experienced at least one childhood adversity (median 6), and 94% reported being a victim of physical violence by a current or former intimate partner. Aboriginal women were more likely than non-Aboriginal women to report that a family member was incarcerated as a child (p = .001). There was an association between an increased number of ACEs and head injury with a loss of consciousness (p = .008). Overall, these results present a harrowing picture of childhood exposure to adversity and violence in adulthood. Successful rehabilitation of women incarcerated for violent crimes should be cognizant of the histories of extreme violence endured by most of these women.

Cognitive performance in young adult women with a history of premature adrenarche.

Girls with premature adrenarche (PA) mature earlier than peers and have been found to have greater symptom accounts reflecting anxiety compared to peers. It is not known, however, whether PA effects cognitive development. This longitudinal case-control cohort study aimed: (1) To investigate whether a history of PA leads to measurable changes in adulthood cognitive performance, and (2) to assess whether findings characteristic of PA girls predict adulthood cognitive performance. Twenty-seven girls with PA and 27 age-matched control girls were examined and followed from mid-childhood (mean age 7.2 years) until early adult age (18.5 years). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition scores were used as main outcome measure. Allostatic load (AL) scores, which compile multisystem variables to reflect the overall wear and tear of the body from increased and prolonged stress, were higher in the PA group in both prepuberty and adulthood, but there were no differences in WAIS-IV results between the groups (full-scale IQ 92.7 vs. 97.5, p 0.376; no differences in separate indexes). Childhood androgen levels, glucose metabolism biomarkers, and AL scores failed to predict adulthood cognitive performance outcomes. The study suggests that PA does not predispose to adverse adulthood outcomes of cognitive development. The study suggests that a history of premature adrenarche (PA) does not affect cognitive performance in adult age. Childhood androgen levels and biomarkers of glucose metabolism failed to predict adulthood cognitive outcomes in this study. Allostatic load scores were elevated in the PA group both in childhood and adulthood but did not predict adulthood cognitive outcomes.

The chains of the past: A life course perspective on childhood adversity and organizational attitudes and behaviors.

Childhood adversity stains the past of millions of working adults worldwide. The impact on health and well-being is substantial-a now-acknowledged public health crisis. Yet, research in the organizational sciences has failed to recognize the burden that individuals with this difficult history carry with them into the workforce. By synthesizing an interdisciplinary body of scholarship into a cohesive theoretical framework, we provide a foundation for emerging work in occupational health psychology. Empirically, across two single-level multiwave studies, we demonstrate the importance of adversity in one's childhood and its impact on the workplace specifically showing that child adversity, directly and indirectly, impacts worker attitudes and discretionary behaviors. Further, providing one of the few examinations of stress proliferation theory in the workplace, we demonstrate adulthood adversity as an essential mediating mechanism that leads to these work outcomes. From an applied perspective, our results highlight a need to focus on the healing and recovery of adult survivors as they work toward breaking the chains of the past in their lives and at work. In presenting this life course perspective on organizational attitudes and behaviors, our work offers a unique and vital contribution to occupational health theory, practice, and research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Distress and neuroticism as mediators of the effect of childhood and adulthood adversity on cognitive performance in the UK Biobank study

Childhood adversity and adulthood adversity affect cognition later in life. However, the mechanism through which adversity exerts these effects on cognition remains under-researched. We aimed to investigate if the effect of adversity on cognition was mediated by distress or neuroticism. The UK Biobank is a large, population-based, cohort study designed to investigate risk factors of cognitive health. Here, data were analysed using a cross-sectional design. Structural equation models were fitted to the data with childhood adversity or adulthood adversity as independent variables, distress and neuroticism as mediators and executive function and processing speed as latent dependent variables that were derived from the cognitive scores in the UK Biobank. Complete data were available for 64,051 participants in the childhood adversity model and 63,360 participants in the adulthood adversity model. Childhood adversity did not show a direct effect on processing speed. The effect of childhood adversity on executive function was partially mediated by distress and neuroticism. The effects of adulthood adversity on executive function and processing speed were both partially mediated by distress and neuroticism. In conclusion, distress and neuroticism mediated the deleterious effect of childhood and adulthood adversity on cognition and may provide a mechanism underlying the deleterious consequences of adversity.

The Childhood Experiences of Disorganization and Role Reversal Scale: Relations with Childhood Adversity, Internalizing Problems, and Well-Being in Young Adulthood

The Childhood Experiences of Disorganization and Role Reversal Scale: Relations with Childhood Adversity, Internalizing Problems, and Well-Being in Young Adulthood

Lifetime adversity predicts depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment in a nationally representative sample of older adults in the United States.

Although life stress and adversity are well-known risk factors for mental health problems and cognitive impairment among older adults, limited research has comprehensively examined the impact of both childhood and adulthood adversity on psychiatric and cognitive impairment symptoms over a prolonged period. To address this issue, we investigated how lifetime adversity exposure is related to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment in a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of older adults in the United States. We analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study (1992-2016). The sample included 3496 individuals (59.9% female), aged ≥64 years old (Mage = 76.0 ± 7.6 years in 2016). We used the individual-level panel data and ordinary least squares regressions to estimate associations between childhood and adulthood adversities, and later-life depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. Many participants experienced a significant early life (38%) or adulthood (79%) stressor. Moreover, experiencing one childhood adversity (vs. none) was associated with a 17.4% increased risk of adulthood adversity. Finally, as hypothesized, childhood adversity exposure was related to experiencing more depression and anxiety symptoms in later life, whereas adulthood stressor exposure predicted more cognitive impairment as well as more depression and anxiety symptoms. These findings demonstrate significant associations between lifetime adversity and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment in older adults. Screening for lifetime stressors may thus help healthcare professionals and policymakers identify individuals who could potentially benefit from interventions designed to reduce stress and enhance resilience.

Relationships between childhood adversity and inflammatory biomarkers in adulthood: A cross-sectional analysis of a middle-to older-aged population

BackgroundExposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been linked with increased cardiometabolic risk in adulthood. Low-grade systemic inflammation may underlie this association. Thus far, however, there has been limited investigation of later life inflammatory biomarkers in the context of childhood adversity. ObjectivesTo assess ACE history, and ACE subcategory, relationships with a broad range of inflammatory biomarkers in middle-to older-aged adults to test the hypothesis that ACE exposure is associated with an unfavourable inflammatory profile in adulthood and determine whether associations vary by ACE subtype and sex. MethodsThis study used data from a random sample of 1,839 men and women aged 46–74 years. Participant exposure to ACEs (overall and subtypes including abuse, neglect and household dysfunction) was determined using a validated 10-item ACE questionnaire. Inflammatory biomarkers (pro-inflammatory cytokines, adipocytokines, acute-phase response proteins, white blood cell counts and their constituents, coagulation factors and glycoprotein acetyl) were measured from participant blood samples. Linear regression analyses examined relationships between ACE history (overall and each subcategory) and inflammatory biomarkers in adulthood, controlling for potential confounders. Sex-stratified and mediation analyses were also conducted. ResultsIn age and sex-adjusted models, ACE history was significantly associated with higher c-reactive protein (p = 0.027), resistin (p = 0.024), white blood cell count (WBC) (p = 0.034), monocyte (p = 0.044), eosinophil (p = 0.031) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (p = 0.047) concentrations, and lower adiponectin (p = 0.025) levels. Results from stratified analyses indicated sex differences and ACE subtype specific associations, with household dysfunction identified as the main driver of positive ACE associations with WBCs and constituents (all p < 0.05). Mediation analyses suggested that BMI and smoking mediate relationships between ACE exposures and increased inflammation. ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that ACE exposure may be associated with more pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic profiles in adulthood. Associations differed according to ACE subtype, and sex differences exist, which may influence cardiometabolic risk.

The Continuity of Adversity: Negative Emotionality Links Early Life Adversity With Adult Stressful Life Events

Adversity that exhibits continuity across the life course has long-term detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Using 920 participants from the Dunedin Study, we tested the following hypotheses: (a) Children (ages 3–15) who experienced adversity would also tend to experience adversity in adulthood (ages 32–45), and (2) interim personality traits in young adulthood (ages 18–26) would help account for this longitudinal association. Children who experienced more adversity tended to also experience more stressful life events as adults, β = 0.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.04, 0.18], p = .002. Negative emotionality—particularly its subfacet alienation, characterized by mistrust of others—helped explain this childhood-to-midlife association (indirect effect: β = 0.06, 95% CI = [0.04, 0.09], p &lt; .001). Results were robust to adjustment for sex, socioeconomic origins, childhood IQ, preschool temperament, and other young-adult personality traits. Prevention of early life adversity and treatment of young-adult negative emotionality may reduce vulnerability to later life stress and thereby promote the health of aging adults.

LIFE COURSE TIMING OF ADVERSITY AND DIURNAL CORTISOL IN LATER LIFE

Abstract Exposure to adversity is believed to alter stress sensitive biological processes. One manifestation of this, flatter diurnal cortisol slopes, has been linked to cardiometabolic problems. Questions remain about whether the timing of adversity within the life course influences its effect on cortisol slopes in later life. Two longitudinal cohort studies (Cardiac Rehabilitation and The Experience [CREATE], Tracking Risk Identification for Adult Diabetes [TRIAD]) with identical measures were merged for analysis (merged N = 175, Mage 60.8) using multilevel modeling. Measures included retrospective self-report of childhood trauma (CTQ), major life stressors in adulthood (number and recency of stressful events, affected domains, everyday discrimination), and peak-to-bedtime cortisol slopes (≤12 collected over 15 months). Report of any moderate and severe childhood adversity was not associated with adult cortisol slopes (p&amp;gt;.05). When we probed specific types, emotional abuse was associated with cortisol slopes (b=.006, SE=.003, p=.015). For adult adversity, total number of stressful events (b=.001, SE=.0002, p=.009) and recent stressful events (b=.003, SE=.001, p=.041) were associated with cortisol slopes. When simultaneously modeling all measures of adversity over the life course, number of stressful events in adulthood (b=. 001, SE=.0002, p=.018) and childhood emotional abuse (b=.007, SE=.004, p=.064) were the strongest predictors of flatter diurnal cortisol slopes in adulthood. Given that those reporting childhood adversity were also more likely to have experienced adulthood adversity (r=.08-.39), early life adversity may be an important risk factor for flattened cortisol slopes and associated cardiometabolic outcomes in later life via multiple pathways. Implications for intervention will be discussed.

An analysis on history of childhood adversity, anxiety, and chronic pain in adulthood and the influence of inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein

Despite a link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and anxiety, the role of anxiety in the pathway to chronic pain is unclear. Potentially, inflammatory biomarkers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) are involved. Objectives were to (1) examine relationships between reported ACEs, anxiety, and chronic pain, and (2) assess associations between ACEs, anxiety, and CRP levels and between CRP and chronic pain. Data from 24,172 adults who participated in the UK Biobank were used to conduct Poisson regressions to assess relationships between ACEs, anxiety, and chronic pain. For participants with CRP data who met the inclusion criteria (n = 2007), similar models were run between ACEs, anxiety, and CRP, and CRP and chronic pain. For objective 1, three statistically significant interactions were found to predict pain: frequency of physical abuse x reported muscular symptoms during anxiety (p = 0.01); frequency in which they felt hated x having discussed anxiety with a professional (p = 0.03), and reported frequency of sexual abuse x difficulties relaxing during anxiety attacks (p = 0.03). For objective 2, frequency of sexual abuse and informing a professional about anxiety significantly interacted to predict elevated CRP. For correlations, the largest was between CRP and the number of times pain was reported over the years (p = 0.01). Finally, ACEs (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and whether taken to a doctor) significantly interacted with CRP to predict pain. This study suggests mechanisms of the impact of ACEs on chronic pain may include inflammation and anxiety, which warrants further study.

Proinflammatory phenotype in major depressive disorder with adulthood adversity: In line with social signal transduction theory of depression

BackgroundThe social signal transduction theory of depression proposes that life stress can be transformed into inflammatory signals, and ultimately lead to the development of major depressive disorder (MDD). The hypotheses of this study were: (1) The pro-inflammatory effect of life stress was only seen in patients with MDD, but not in healthy controls (HCs); (2) Inflammation can mediate the relationship between life stress and depressive symptoms. MethodsThis study included 170 MDD patients and 196 HCs, and 13 immune-inflammatory biomarkers closely related to MDD were measured, principal component analysis (PCA) was adopted to extract the inflammatory index. Life stress was assessed by Life Event Scale (LES), a total score of >32 points on the LES was considered as adulthood adversity (AA). Path analyses were used to explore the relationship among adulthood stress, inflammatory index, and severity of depression. ResultsAmong MDD patients, α2M, CXCL-1, IL-1β, and TLR-1 levels were higher in patients with AA than non-AA group (all FDR-adjusted P values <0.05), meanwhile, the levels of CCL-2 and IL-18 were lower. Path analyses suggested that pro- and anti-inflammatory index could mediate the association between AA and severity of depression in MDD patients. ConclusionThis study found that inflammatory signals can mediate the relationship between adulthood adversity and depression, however, the causal relationship need to be further confirmed. These findings shed light on further understanding the theory of social signal transduction in MDD and provide clues for stress management and controlling inflammation strategies in depression.Clinical trials: NCT02023567

Parental Depression and Adulthood Adversities as Mediators of Direct Versus Indirect Intergenerational Experiences of Child Maltreatment

Parental Depression and Adulthood Adversities as Mediators of Direct Versus Indirect Intergenerational Experiences of Child Maltreatment

Adverse childhood and adulthood experiences and risk of new-onset cardiovascular disease with consideration of social support: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundThe relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse adulthood experiences (AAEs) and their association with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) have not been extensively studied. Considering social support, we evaluated the complex relations of ACEs and AAEs with incident CVD.MethodsThis prospective cohort study used data from the 2014 life course survey and the 2015 and 2018 surveys of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a national survey of Chinese adults aged ≥ 45 years from 28 provinces across China. The study population included 5836 individuals (mean [SD] age, 59.59 [8.22] years, 49.7% were males). Information on ACEs, AAEs, young adulthood social support, health behavior factors, health status factors, and demographics was measured. Cox regression models, the difference method to estimate the mediation proportion, and the additive and multiplicative interactions were performed. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.ResultsDuring follow-up, 789 incident cases of CVD occurred. The fully adjusted model, including demographics, health behaviors, health status factors (e.g., depressive symptoms), and social support as control variables, demonstrated that the overall number of ACEs (Hazard ratio [HR]: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.14) and AAEs (HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.16 to 1.22) were associated with an increased risk of incident CVD. A dose–response relationship existed between the number of ACEs or AAEs and incident CVD risk. The overall AAEs were found to mediate 17.7% (95% CI: 8.2 to 34.2%) of the association between ACEs and incident CVD. Moreover, a significant additive interaction between ACEs and AAEs was detected (RERI [95% CI]: 0.32 [0.09 to 0.56]). Compared with adults without exposure to both ACE and AAE, those with exposure to both at least one ACE and one AAE indicator had the highest risk of incident CVD (HR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.72 to 2.23).ConclusionsExposure to ACEs or AAEs was independently associated with an increased risk of incident CVD among Chinese middle-aged and older adults in a dose–response manner, and the overall AAEs partially mediated the association between ACEs and incident CVD. Preventive measures aimed at addressing either ACEs or AAEs alone may not significantly reduce the risk of CVD later in life. The necessity of a comprehensive life-course health strategy targeting the prevention of adversity merits increased attention.

Social support as a resilience factor for parent-infant dyads experiencing homelessness.

Despite the considerable prevalence of homelessness among very young children in the United States, there is a notable lack of research on risk, resilience, and developmental well-being of infants who experience family homelessness. In the present study, we considered social support as a resilience factor for quality of parent-infant relationships and parent depression among a sample of 106 parents and their infants (ages birth to 12 months) residing in emergency shelters for families experiencing homelessness. We assessed social support, parent histories of adverse experiences during childhood and adulthood, and parent current depression symptoms via structured interview measures, and we assessed quality of the parent-infant relationship with an observational approach. Results showed different patterns for the roles of adversity the parents had experienced during childhood compared to adversity experienced more recently, as adults. Childhood adversity predicted parent-infant responsiveness, with a positive association that was moderated by level of perceived social support. Parents with more childhood adversity showed more responsiveness with their infants only when they had access to high levels of social support. Adulthood adversity predicted higher scores for parent depression, while social support predicted lower parent depression scores. This work contributes to the very limited literature on the functioning of families with infants in shelters. Our discussion includes implications for research, policy, and prevention and intervention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The impact of adversities across the lifespan on psychological symptom profiles in late adulthood: a latent profile analysis.

People commonly face adverse circumstances throughout life, which increases risk for psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, psychosis, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Adversities may occur during different periods in life. Especially adversity during early periods has been suggested to put individuals at risk for adverse mental health outcomes. Here, we investigated whether timing of adversity during the prenatal period, childhood, or mid-to-late adulthood differentially impacted classification into late adulthood symptom profiles. We performed sex-stratified Latent Profile Analysis to identify latent profiles regarding anxious, depressive, psychotic, and PTSD symptoms in n = 568 Dutch famine birth cohort members (n = 294 women, n = 274 men, mean age(SD) = 72.9(0.8)). Cross-sectional late adulthood symptomatology, childhood traumatic maltreatment, and adulthood trauma were based on self-report questionnaires. Prenatal adversity was considered present when individuals were prenatally exposed to the 1944-45 Dutch famine. In both men and women we identified one anxious/depressive profile and three profiles with approximately equal severity of all symptom types within each profile, yet differentiating in overall severity (low, mild, high) between profiles. We additionally found a PTSD symptom profile in women. In men, logistic regression models showed significant associations between prenatal, childhood and adulthood adversity, and profile classification, with differential effects depending on timing and most profound effects of child maltreatment. In women, childhood and adulthood adversity significantly increased classification probability into almost all profiles, with no significant effect of prenatal adversity. These findings support a time-dependent and sex-specific impact of adversity during different periods across the lifespan on psychological health, with consequences into late adulthood.

A Glucocorticoid-Sensitive Hippocampal Gene Network Moderates the Impact of Early-Life Adversity on Mental Health Outcomes

BackgroundEarly stress increases the risk for psychiatric disorders. Glucocorticoids are stress mediators that regulate transcriptional activity and morphology in the hippocampus, which is implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple psychiatric conditions. We aimed to establish the relevance of hippocampal glucocorticoid-induced transcriptional activity as a mediator of the effects of early life on later psychopathology in humans. MethodsRNA sequencing was performed with anterior and posterior hippocampal dentate gyrus from adult female macaques (n = 12/group) that were chronically treated with betamethasone (glucocorticoid receptor agonist) or vehicle. Coexpression network analysis identified a preserved gene network in the posterior hippocampal dentate gyrus that was strongly associated with glucocorticoid exposure. The single nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes in this network were used to create an expression-based polygenic score in humans. ResultsThe expression-based polygenic score significantly moderated the association between early adversity and psychotic disorders in adulthood (UK Biobank, women, n = 44,519) and on child peer relations (ALSPAC [Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children], girls, n = 1666 for 9-year-olds and n = 1594 for 11-year-olds), an endophenotype for later psychosis. Analyses revealed that this network was enriched for glucocorticoid-induced epigenetic remodeling in human hippocampal cells. We also found a significant association between single nucleotide polymorphisms from the expression-based polygenic score and adult brain gray matter density. ConclusionsWe provide an approach for the use of transcriptomic data from animal models together with human data to study the impact of environmental influences on mental health. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that hippocampal glucocorticoid-related transcriptional activity mediates the effects of early adversity on neural mechanisms implicated in psychiatric disorders.

From childhood adversity to latent stress vulnerability in adulthood: the mediating roles of sleep disturbances and HPA axis dysfunction.

Childhood adversity is a prominent predisposing risk factor for latent stress vulnerability, expressed as an elevated likelihood of developing stress-related psychopathology upon subsequent exposure to trauma in adulthood. Sleep disturbances have emerged as one of the most pronounced maladaptive behavioral outcomes of childhood adversity and are also a highly prevalent core feature of stress-related psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After reviewing the extensive literature supporting these claims, the current review addresses the notion that childhood adversity-induced sleep disturbances may play a causal role in elevating individuals' stress vulnerability in adulthood. Corroborating this, sleep disturbances that predate adult trauma exposure have been associated with an increased likelihood of developing stress-related psychopathology post-exposure. Furthermore, novel empirical evidence suggests that sleep disturbances, including irregularity of the sleep-wake cycle, mediate the link between childhood adversity and stress vulnerability in adulthood. We also discuss cognitive and behavioral mechanisms through which such a cascade may evolve, highlighting the putative role of impaired memory consolidation and fear extinction. Next, we present evidence to support the contribution of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to these associations, stemming from its critical role in stress and sleep regulatory pathways. Childhood adversity may yield bi-directional effects within the HPA stress and sleep axes in which sleep disturbances and HPA axis dysfunction reinforce each other, leading to elevated stress vulnerability. To conclude, we postulate a conceptual path model from childhood adversity to latent stress vulnerability in adulthood and discuss the potential clinical implications of these notions, while highlighting directions for future research.

Early life adversity and adult social relationships have independent effects on survival in a wild primate.

Adverse conditions in early life can have negative consequences for adult health and survival in humans and other animals. What variables mediate the relationship between early adversity and adult survival? Adult social environments represent one candidate: Early life adversity is linked to social adversity in adulthood, and social adversity in adulthood predicts survival outcomes. However, no study has prospectively linked early life adversity, adult social behavior, and adult survival to measure the extent to which adult social behavior mediates this relationship. We do so in a wild baboon population in Amboseli, Kenya. We find weak mediation and largely independent effects of early adversity and adult sociality on survival. Furthermore, strong social bonds and high social status in adulthood can buffer some negative effects of early adversity. These results support the idea that affiliative social behavior is subject to natural selection through its positive relationship with survival, and they highlight possible targets for intervention to improve human health and well-being.