Using data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, researchers found that adults with traumatic childhoods are exposed to an increased risk of early death.
Owing to the fact that children are not able to verbalize childhood traumatic experiences, many people assume that young age protects children from the impact of traumatic experiences. However, studies have proved that children are affected by traumatic events just as much, if not more than adults.
In fact, a new study conducted by researchers from French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), in collaboration with the ESRC International Centre for Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health at UCL, found that people with traumatic childhoods are exposed to an increased risk of early death.
Using data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, researchers found that people with traumatic childhoods were more likely to die before the age of 50 than their peers who had a normal childhood. Among women, those who experienced even one traumatic incident before the age of 16, 66 per cent were more likely to die before the age of 50 than those who did not face any adversity. Women who had two or more adverse experiences in childhood had an 80 per cent increased risk of premature death. Similarly for men, those who experienced two or more traumatic events in childhood were 57 per cent more likely to die by the time they were 50 than those who had not experienced any adversity growing up.
Researchers found that these statistics held true even when factors like educational qualifications, social status, psychological problems and substance use were taken into consideration.
"Our Centre has been collaborating with public health researchers at INSERM to enable them to use unique British birth cohort data to test their ideas," Professor Mel Bartley, one of the UCL authors of the study, said in a press release. "This work on early psychological trauma and premature death adds a whole new dimension to public health. It shows that if we are going to ensure better health in the population the work needs to begin early in life to support children experiencing severe adversities. Many people have suspected this but until now we have not had such high quality evidence from such a large cohort of people."
While some of these deaths have been due to extreme mental stress and severe addiction to drugs, researchers also found that people who suffer extreme cases of stress during their childhood, experience imbalances in their hormone and immune systems that impact their physical development and later health.
