A recent neuroscience study indicates a link between childhood adversity and differences in brain structure. Fortunately, the study also indicated a link between social resilience factors, such as positive parenting and supportive neighborhoods, and fewer differences.
The study looked at data from more than 9,000 children ages 9 and 10, avoiding the problem that I’ve seen in other studies of low sample sizes. The study correlated a range of childhood experiences, such as prenatal risk factors, personal adversity, neighborhood challenges, and low household income, with a measure of “white matter” microstructure. The researchers explained, “White matter are the communication highways that allow the brain networks to carry out the necessary functions for cognition and behavior.”
The researchers measured the white matter connections, and correlated those with childhood adversities factors and current cognitive abilities. The analysis found lower quality of white matter connections in parts of the brain related to arithmetic and language. Children with a history of adversity but also resilience factors showed stronger white matter connections than those children with only a history of adversity. The researchers noted that the observational data in the study doesn’t allow strong causal connections, and the brain imaging was only a snapshot in time.
This study, even with its limitations, is another data point in the developing research showing that childhood trauma affects our kids’ cognitive abilities. So, when our kids struggle or seem developmentally delayed, it may be a result of trauma. The good news is in the connection with resilience factors. We can help them overcome the deficit through stable, committed parenting.
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Interested in learning more?
• Download my free e-book to learn how to stop being the villain in your child’s story.
• Learn more principles of foster parenting and step-parenting from my online courses at YSO Academy.
• Buy my book, Raising Other People’s Children, for more thoughts about being the person who’s not supposed to be there.
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