Advanced Search

Related News

Home » Opinion » Foreign Views

Toxic stress warps kids' brains for life

By Jack P. Shonkoff | May 7, 2009, Thursday | Print Edition

WHAT if political leaders around the world could improve school achievement and job readiness, reduce crime, and extend healthy life expectancy - but the results would not be seen until after they left public office?

Would they have the political courage to act now in the best long-term interest of their people?

Thanks to a remarkable convergence of new scientific knowledge about the developing brain, the human genome, and the effects of early experiences on later learning, behavior, and health, these are not hypothetical questions.

Scientists can now credibly say that the early childhood years - from birth to age five - lay the foundation for later economic productivity, responsible citizenship, and a lifetime of sound physical and mental health.

Deep poverty, abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence in early childhood can all lead to toxic stress.

In contrast to normal or tolerable stress, which can build resilience and properly calibrate a child's stress-response system, toxic stress is caused by extreme, prolonged adversity in the absence of a supportive network of adults to help the child adapt.

When it occurs, toxic stress can actually damage the architecture of the developing brain, leading to disrupted circuits and a weakened foundation for future learning and health.

The lasting, neurobiological effect on young children who experience toxic stress leads to a far greater likelihood of anti-social behavior, lower achievement in school and at work, and poor physical and mental health - all of which society addresses at great cost.

Deep poverty is but one risk factor for toxic stress and its long-term consequences. The greatest harm comes from the cumulative burden of multiple risk factors, including neglect, abuse, parental substance abuse or mental illness, and exposure to violence.

Prolonged activation of the body's stress system during early development can damage the formation of the neural connections that comprise our brain architecture and set our stress-response system at a hair-trigger level.

We can thus comprehend why children born into such circumstances have more problems in school, are more likely to commit crimes, and are more prone to heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other illnesses later in life.

By addressing the circumstances that can produce toxic stress, local, national, and global leaders would improve not only the life prospects of their youngest citizens, but also outcomes for their societies.

Science points to three things that we can do to level the playing field:

1. Make basic medical services and early care and education available to all young children;

2. Provide greater financial support and rich learning experiences for young children living in poverty; and

3. Offer specialized services for young children experiencing toxic stress from difficult life circumstances.

The negative consequences of poverty and other forms of adversity are not inevitable. The gap between what we know and what we do is growing and increasingly unconscionable.

(The author is professor of child health and development and director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2009. www.project-syndicate.org.)

Foreign Views


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend