Childhood trauma can accelerate ageing and bad health.

Experiment by Psychologists in Havard University has linked childhood experiences to later life appearance, well-being and mental state.

In an addition to increase rate of anxiety, depression, and stress, early life experiences like poverty, neglect, and violence are powerful predictors of physical health outcomes like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and even early mortality, said Katie McLaughlin, associate professor of psychology and senior author of depression.

The research work titled "Biological Aging in Childhood and Adolescence Following Experiences of Threat and Deprivation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,”  was carried out by McLaughlin and three other colleagues published in the Aug. 3 Psychological Bulletin.

In the report, it was discovered you're likely to look older than your actual age, experience abnormal mental and health condition, and accelerated puberty if you were expose to physical trauma and violent while growing up. For example, children exposed to deprivation often experience delays in cognitive development and difficulties with learning and memory that can contribute to poor school performance.

“The question we were really interested in is whether all negative experiences early in life are the same in terms of how they might impact the aging process, and one of the most interesting findings of the paper is that the answer is a very clear ‘no,’” said McLaughlin.

The group reviewed 83 ELA studies, focusing on participants under age 18 and separating the experiences into two categories: threat-based (experiencing or witnessing violence) and deprivation-based (neglect by families or institutions). They investigated the associations between each using a variety of biological aging metrics: pubertal development, brain development, and cellular aging.

In the report, children who experience violence or comes from violent family family would show abnormal emotion and health when growing up.

In this case, researchers postulate, earlier sexual maturation may act as the body’s way to prepare for earlier reproduction, based on the presence of threats that could contribute to imminent mortality.

We now have these very early markers of biological aging that we can use as potential flags for kids who could be in trouble down the road,” said Natalie Colich, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington and first author on the paper. “If you have a kid who comes into a pediatrician’s office and is showing precocious pubertal onset, you can first start to [ask] questions about the experiences this child had in early childhood and also know that this child is probably at risk for mental and physical health problems down the road. So [biological aging] is a good marker for these two things that we should watch out for in order to promote a healthier trajectory of development.”

Source: Havard Health Gazette