The study also found that those who had had childhood trauma were biologically 1.06 years older, on average, than people who had not experienced trauma. The researchers replicated their findings by examining brain tissue samples.
Early development of these age-related conditions is thought to provide evidence that PTSD is associated with premature aging such that the stress of PTSD symptoms leads to an accelerated pace of cellular aging relative to chronological aging.
The study examined three different signs of biological aging—early puberty, cellular aging and changes in brain structure—and found that trauma exposure was associated with all three.
Conversely, trauma—abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, lack of attachment, and other adverse childhood experiences—affect the structure and chemistry of the brain and can stunt its natural growth and maturation. These negative experiences have an effect not only in childhood, but throughout life.
Victims of childhood abuse are biologically older than their peers in midlife, study indicates. New research has found that individuals who suffer physical or sexual abuse in childhood age faster than their non-abused peers.
When trauma impairs your ability to develop full emotional maturity, this is known as arrested psychological development. Trauma can “freeze” your emotional response at the age you experienced it. When you feel or act emotionally younger than your actual age, this is known as age regression.
Chronic stress can lead to a variety of different biological changes in the body – ranging from cellular-level tweaks to altering hormone levels – and can contribute to many health problems in adults. And if experienced regularly by children, chronic stress can stunt their growth.
Trauma was associated with biological aging in early puberty, cellular aging, and alterations in brain structure. The findings may explain why children who experienced adversity early in life often suffer poor health as they age.
Emotional immaturity is the result of getting stuck in emotional development due to trauma. What you experience as trauma is unique to you. Whether or not you experience an incident as traumatic depends on the kind of support you received while coping with it.
You might have difficulties trusting, low self-esteem, fears of being judged, constant attempts to please, outbursts of frustration, or social anxiety symptoms that won't let up. Can childhood trauma be healed?
There were significant differences in the impact of childhood trauma on IQ across the 3 groups. Exposure in HCS was associated with a nearly 5-point reduction in IQ (−4.85; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −7.98 to −1.73, P = . 002), a lesser reduction in siblings (−2.58; 95% CI: −4.69 to −0.46, P = .
It can happen due to genetics, environment, or a combination of both. Premature aging is also called hyperglycemia and hyperglycemia-associated disorders (HAGD). Premature aging can also cause hair loss, dry or itchy skin, and joint pain. You might notice that your skin looks dull, pale, or sallow.
Being Depressed
For starters, when people are depressed, they may end up tensing specific facial muscles, grimacing or frowning, and these "negative facial expressions can become sort of etched into the skin in the form of fine lines and wrinkles," Day explains.
In fact, young children between the ages of 0 and 5 are the most vulnerable to the effects of trauma since their brains are still in the early formative years.
Age regression is a temporary or long-term reversal of behavior to earlier states of development. It is normal and expected in children but does occur in adulthood as well. People sometimes revert to childlike behavior to cope with trauma, stress, severe illness, or mental health disorders.
Some forms of child abuse were associated with timing of puberty: in females, psychological abuse with late menarche and sexual abuse with both late and early menarche; and in males, witnessing abuse with early genitalia development.
Being stuck in the past: Trauma causes an increase in a stress hormone called glucocorticoid. This impacts your memory's ability to eventually recognize the threat as something from the past. The threat feels present. Thus, when you are triggered, your body is responding as if the threat is happening now.
Poverty, neglect, housing instability, violence, food insecurity and separation from parents all affect childhood development – and thus, lifelong health. Although children are born ready to learn and grow, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that occur in youth resulting in toxic stress.
They show empathy toward others
Emotionally intelligent people can read others too. They observe social and emotional cues and see past simply what is said to what someone might be experiencing underneath. They care about how their actions affect other people, and they're able to make predictions to avoid causing hurt.
“Child trauma” refers to a scary, dangerous, violent, or life threatening event that happens to a child (0-18 years of age). This type of event may also happen to someone your child knows and your child is impacted as a result of seeing or hearing about the other person being hurt or injured.
According to the research, sexual abuse victims entered into puberty an average of eight months earlier than non-abused girls in breast development and 12 months earlier for pubic hair growth.
Traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on someone's life, and also their brain. Neurological changes can negatively impact one's relationships and ability to function. However, these effects can be treated and reversed, often with the help of trauma-informed therapy.
Research has shown that traumatic experiences are associated with both behavioral health and chronic physical health conditions, especially those traumatic events that occur during childhood. Substance use, mental health conditions, and other risky behaviors have been linked with traumatic experiences.
One reason could be that a younger subjective age reflects having more resources than stress, Hoffman said. With overall improved health, higher life expectancy and better resources available today than in decades past, people may feel more youthful.