Understanding the mechanisms through which adverse childhood experiences affect lifetime economic outcomes

an article by Stefanie Schurer (University of Sydney, Australia; IZA Bonn, Germany; ARC Life Course Centre, Australia) and Kristian Trajkovski and Tara Hariharan (University of Sydney, Australia) published in Labour Economics Volume 61 (December 2019)

Highlights

• We use British cohort data to study the economic penalties of adverse childhood experiences (ACE).
• ACE are associated with lower earnings, welfare dependence, and subjective poverty at age 55.
• The income penalty of ACE is mainly produced by parental neglect.
• Observed income differences by neglect exposure is almost fully explained by differences in human capital.
• Our findings contribute to a wider discussion on the multidimensionality of childhood poverty.

Abstract

Over the past two decades, researchers have shown a growing interest in the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – children's confrontation with maltreatment and household dysfunction – in shaping health outcomes.

This is the first study to quantify the economic penalties of ACEs and identify the mechanisms which produce the relationship.

We source data from the National Child Development Study to construct an ACE index based on prospective childhood information. We estimate a robust earnings penalty of 9% for each additional ACE, a 25% higher probability of being welfare dependent, and a 27% higher probability of subjective poverty at age 55, over and above the influence of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage.

The income penalty of ACEs is mainly produced by parental neglect, a component of the ACE index based on teacher assessments. It is observed for children from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Observed differences in later-life earnings between children with and without neglect exposure can be almost fully explained by observable differences in human capital accumulated by the beginning of mid-age.

The productivity loss in an economy due to parental neglect is likely to be high.

Our findings contribute to a wider discussion on the multidimensionality of childhood poverty.

JEL classification: I32, J12

Associated research data

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Adverse childhood experiences and neuroinflammatory biomarkers—The role of sex

Seoyoun Kim, Toni Watt,  Natalie Ceballos  and Shobhit Sharma (Texas State University, San Marcos, USA) published in Stress & Health Volume 35 Issue 4 (October 2019)

Abstract

Despite the growing interest in adverse childhood experiences and biomarkers, less attention has been paid to multiple biomarkers as representing interrelated systems among college students.

Guided by the neuroinflammatory pathway hypothesis, the current project takes the initial step in examining the link between three types of childhood adversity and biomarkers of neuroplasticity (brain‐derived neurotropic factor [BDNF]) and low‐grade inflammation (C‐reactive protein [CRP]) in an overarching model and whether this link may differ in men and women.

Undergraduate students (n = 85) were recruited through multiple departments from a state university.

The participants responded to the detailed online survey questionnaire on childhood adversity and provided one blood sample via venous blood draw. Given that CRP and BDNF represent two interrelated systems, structural equation models were considered the most suitable for the analyses.

The findings partially support neural and inflammatory pathways, such that childhood adversity and particularly family dysfunction have a significant positive effect on BDNF (b = 30.41, p< .01). The link between family dysfunction and CRP was stronger in female students (b = 0.57, p< .05).

Results suggest that interventions for college students with family dysfunctions may need to target different physiological and behavioral outcomes for male and female students.

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Three Ways Childhood Trauma Affects Adulthood

an article by Jade Wu, The Savvy Psychologist for Psychology Today

Complex childhood trauma is subtle but has long-term consequences.

When you think of your early years, what comes to mind?

It might be things like diving into a fresh bowl of watermelon on a hot summer day, giggling as your parents pushed you on the swings at the local playground, biking around the block with your siblings, or gathering for a cozy winter movie night with the whole family. Or you may be among the many people who don't have these lovely childhood memories, or who have darker memories that crowd out the happy ones.

What is complex trauma?

Most of us can recognize what trauma looks like. When we think of trauma, we often think of momentous, life-changing events. We think of horrific instances of sexual assault, car accidents, natural disasters, and war—events that divide a person’s life into “before” and “after”. These are the experiences that victims are often plagued by in the form of flashbacks and nightmares.

Continue reading but please be aware that this is not likely to be a comfortable read.

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How Adverse Childhood Experiences Affect Relationships

a post by Renee Catt for YourTango.com [via World of Psychology]



Childhood trauma is surprisingly common and understandably painful, but healing is possible.

I didn’t figure out what love wasn’t until I went through my tsunami of a divorce and came face-to-face with the ongoing trauma causing by experiences of childhood abuse — all at the same time.

You see, I was a victim (sorry, I hate that word, but it is what it is) of childhood abuse, what those in the clinical world refer to as Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Continue reading

Hazel’s comment:
This is, for World of Psychology, quite a long read which some people may find disturbing. 

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Use This 4 Step Technique to Decide if You Can Trust Your Feelings or Not

a post by Jonice Webb for the Childhood Emotional Neglect blog [via World of Psychology]



Whether you realize it or not, every minute of every day, you are experiencing feelings.

Whether it’s a burst of frustration when you realize you forgot your keys, a second of peaceful calm as you recall your day at the beach last month, or a pang of painful helplessness when you think of a family member who is struggling with addiction, emotions come and go, one after another, constantly.

Just as your physical feelings reside in your body, so do your emotions. Many people describe feeling sadness in their belly, anxiety in their throat, anger in their chest or arms, for example. Where you feel your feelings is unique to you, but rest assured that you have feelings, and if you focus in on a feeling, you can locate it in your body.

Continue reading

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“I’d have saved years if someone had asked”: Mental health services must ask about abuse

an article by Andrea Woodside published in the New Statesman

Some 38 per cent of women with a mental health problem have experienced domestic abuse.


GETTY

I have been accessing mental health services for pretty much my whole life. It wasn’t until two years ago, at 47 years old, that anyone asked me about my experiences of abuse. The question was life changing.

Before that, I had been living with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder for over 20 years. I’d been in and out of crisis care and made attempts on my own life. My whole adult life had been wrapped up in a tirade of poor mental health.

But in 2017, when a psychiatrist finally asked me about my experiences of abuse, everything suddenly become clear. It’s bizarre to think I had got to the age of 47 and no one had ever asked me about it before.

It was then that my diagnosis of bipolar disorder was changed: I was now told I was living with severe complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the prolonged and traumatic sexual and emotional abuse I’d experienced. It all started to make sense.

Continue reading

I really hope that you can access the whole article. I have a paid-for subscription to The Staggers but I seem to remember that you can access three articles each week (or something like that).

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Adverse childhood experiences, and instability in Children's care and Parents' work

an article by Shannon T. Lipscomb, Emiko Goka-Dubose, and Rachel Eun Hye Hur (Oregon State University-Cascades, USA) and Adrienne Henry (Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA) published in Children and Youth Services Review Volume 102 (July 2019)

Highlights

• This study examined data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.
• By age three, 55% of children had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE).
• Children's number and types of ACEs predicted instability in their ECE.
• Children's ACEs also predicted ECE-related disruptions in parents' work/school.

Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, parental mental illness and substance abuse are linked with a host of negative life outcomes. To support young children facing ACEs through Early Care and Education (ECE), challenges such as instability must be understood and addressed.

This study examines associations between ACEs during early childhood and instability related to ECE among 2, 466 children attending ECE in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Parents reported instability in children's ECE and disruptions in their work or school stemming from instability in children's ECE.

Parents also reported indicators of ACEs when children were three years of age. Over half of the children had at least one ACE; 12% had three or more. Children's ACEs predicted more instability, in both children's ECE, and in disruptions in parents' work/school due to problems arranging and keeping ECE.

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