Stress and development: Behavioral and biological consequences

Childhood abuse is an important public health problem; however, little is k nown about the effects of abuse on the brain and neurobiological developmen t. This article reviews the behavioral and biological consequences of child hood abuse and places them in a developmental context. Animal studies show that both positive and negative events early in life can influence neurobio logical development in unique ways. Early stressors such as maternal separa tion result in lasting effects on stress-responsive neurobiological systems , including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and noradrenergic systems. These studies also implicate a brain area involved in learning an d memory, the hippocampus. in the long-term consequences of early stress. C linical studies of patients with a history of abuse also implicate dysfunct ion in the HPA axis and the noradrenergic and hippocampal systems however, there are multiple questions related to chronicity of stress, developmental epoch at the time of the stressor, presence of stress-related psychiatric disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, and psych ological factors mediating the response to trauma that need to be addressed in this field of research. Understanding the effects of abuse on the devel opment of the brain and neurobiology will nevertheless have important treat ment and policy implications.