Stressors such as poverty, family turmoil, and family separation cause anxiety for any age. A study performed by UIC, Cornell University, University of Michigan and University of Denver found that these stressors can cause permanent brain dysfunction on individuals who experience this at a young age.
The study examined 49 individuals whose data on family income, prior experience with stress, physiological stress responses, socio-emotional development, and parent-child interactions were collected. Half of the individuals studied were from lower-income families.
Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the participants brain as they performed an emotional-regulating activity. They were asked to regulate their negative emotions using a coping strategy. The activity was used because the strategy that they utilize will likely be the day-to-day coping strategy of the participant. In other words, the coping mechanism that they select during this activity will likely be the same as the strategy they use while dealing with stress and negative emotions in their daily life.
The study found through the imaging that the test subjects who had lower family incomes at the age of 9 used more of the amygdala. The amygdala part of the brain is known for its role in fear and other emotions. The individuals, however, showed less activity in the area of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, whose function is thought to regulate negative emotions. Essentially, those who experienced stress at a young age use a part of the brain associated with fear and negative emotions, and not the more typical prefrontal area, the regulates negative emotions.
One of the conductors of the believes that, “Perhaps the most important finding … was that the amount of chronic stress from childhood through adolescence — such as substandard housing, crowding, noise, and social stressors like family turmoil, violence or family separation — determined the relationship between childhood poverty and prefrontal brain function during emotional regulation”
This idea makes sense to me because when exposed to that much stress at such a young age must alter decision-making and regulating abilities. It is likely an influential time in a child’s life that can alter the way they deal with things for their entire life. In an article written by Urban Child Institute, it says that, “High levels of early stress have been linked to impaired behavioral and emotional development as well as numerous health consequences later in life, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.”
Apparently, not only does stress at a young age affect the brain, but many other parts of the body that have a lasting influence on the individual throughout their life.
