Materials provided by University of Notre Dame. Original written by Jessica Sieff. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
August 3, 2020, University of Notre Dame.
Summary: Harsh conditions in early life are a fundamental cause of adult stress, and according to new research on wild baboons, this effect is not explained by a lack of social support in adulthood.
"Scientists have long believed that the link between early life adversity and adult stress could be due to a lack of social support in adulthood," said Elizabeth Archie, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame and co-author of the study. "But what we've found through this study is that long-term effects of childhood hardships are more powerful than the near-term effects of social support -- even if those experiences took place many years in the past. The effects of early adversity and social support on stress appear to travel along independent physiological paths -- so 'fixing' one won't necessarily fix the other."
Comments (0)