“High levels of family stress in infancy are linked to differences in everyday brain function and anxiety in teenage girls, according to new results of a long-running population study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.”
Early life stress impacts cortisol levels and affects brain development, seeming to sensitize girl’s brains for anxiety. Study participants with higher cortisol levels as babies “showed less communication between brain areas associated with emotion regulation” years later. Increased cortisol levels seem to predict lesser ability to regulate emotions over the long-term.
These patterns were not shown to hold for male study participants; however, this study strictly looked at anxiety and depression and used maternal reports of household stress. Despite apparent limitations, this study once again shows that early life stressors impact brain development over the long-term and points to a need for fuller family and child supportive national policies
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