Maltreatment college
What is early life stress?
- Early life stress describes a broad spectrum of adverse and stressful experiences
during birth to adolescence & prenatal life events
Early life stress has a large impact on brain development and other biological systems, and
later physical and mental health.
Early life stress includes also prenatal life events :When the mother experienced stress
during the pregnancy the babies stress system (programming effects, irreversible): is
adjusted to stressful situations, it’s a maladaptive stress system. It will not change very
easily, it will grow up like its continently in a stressful environment: it will experience greater
excite, more aggression, other emotional problems, more alertness
Similar concepts are: Early-life-adversity (ELA), Adverse childhood experience (ACE) and
Childhood Trauma (CT, represents a more specific form of ELS).
On what has Early Life Stress a large impact?
- On brain development
- Biological systems
- Later physical and mental health
What are similar concepts of early life stress?
- Early-life adversity (ELA)
- Adverse childhood experience (ACE)
- Childhood Trauma (CT)
What are examples of early life stress?
- Physical abuse by a parent
- Emotional abuse by a parent
- Sexual abuse by anyone
- Domestic violence
- Loss of a parent
- Emotional neglect
- Physical neglect
- Extreme poverty
- Starvation
- Growing up with an alcohol and/or durg abuser in the household
- Experiencing the incarceration of a household member
- Living with a family member experiencing mental illness
, What are consequences of early life stress?
Influences all biological process and brain development.
- Increased risk for smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse
- Increased risk for depression and suicide attempts
- Poor self-rated health
- 50 or more sexuals partners
- Greatest likelihood of sexually transmitted disease
- Increased challenges with physical inactivity and severe obsesity
- Increased likelihood of attempted suicide across the lifespan
- Increased risk for broken bones
- Increased heart, lung, and liver disease
- Multiple types of canceer
Child maltreatment:
‘’…any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which result in death,
serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act
which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.’’
What are four types of child maltreatment?
- Neglect
- Physical abuse
- Psychological or emotional abuse
- Sexual abuse
The child have often multiple forms of maltreatment, they are always exposed to more
than one type of maltreatment.
What is neglect?
A failure to provide for their basic physical, educational, and emotional needs (medical care
or lack of simulation); physical, educational and emotional neglect
What is physical abuse?
Multiple acts of aggression that include punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking
or otherwise physically harming a child
What is psychological or emotional abuse?
Repeated acts or omissions by the parents or caregivers that have caused, or could cause,
serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional or mental disorders
What is sexual abuse?
Fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse with the child, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism
and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic
materials.