Early life stress is associated with youth-onset depression for some types of stress but not others

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/e-els071420.php


News Release 15-Jul-2020
Elsevier


A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that individuals exposed to early life stress (ELS) were more likely to develop a major depressive disorder (MDD) in childhood or adolescence than individuals who had not been exposed to ELS.

Examining the association between eight different types of ELS and youth-onset depression, the authors found that while some types of ELS (e.g., poverty) were not associated with MDD, other types of stress, including emotional abuse, were associated more strongly with MDD than a broader assessment of ELS.

The authors also conducted eight additional meta-analyses to examine the association between different types of ELS and a diagnosis of MDD during childhood or adolescence. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, death of a family member, domestic violence, and emotional abuse were associated with significantly higher risk for youth-onset MDD; in contrast, poverty, illness/injury, and exposure to a natural disaster were not.

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tags: child abuse