Childhood Stress and Adversity May Help Build Resilience

Contrary to popular belief, some childhood stress during middle childhood and adolescence may help build resilience against anxiety disorders.

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It’s not just the hardships we face but also when we face them that determine whether they break us down or help us grow.

New research from Yale suggests that stressful or traumatic experiences during key periods of brain development may help build resilience against anxiety in adulthood.

“We found that adversity during middle childhood and adolescence, together with a specific pattern of brain activation in response to threat and safety, was linked with lower levels of anxiety,” Lucinda Sisk, a doctoral candidate at Yale and lead author of the study, said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Timing of Adversity Matters

It has long been believed that adversity in childhood increases the risk of mental health problems later in life, with studies showing that young people who face stress or trauma are 40 percent more likely to develop an anxiety disorder as adults. However, the new study published in Communications Psychology challenges this view.

While most studies focus on the risks associated with childhood adversity, this new research sheds light on why some people bounce back and avoid mental health issues after facing hardships.

The study found that experiencing low-to-moderate adversity during middle childhood—ages 6 to 12—and adolescence—ages 12 to 19—may help build resilience to anxiety later in life. During these critical years, the brain learns to differentiate between threat and safety, helping to protect against anxiety.

Broadly, childhood adversity refers to a range of experiences that threaten a child’s physical or emotional well-being, from physical or emotional abuse and neglect to exposure to violence, extreme poverty, or traumatic accidents.

While the effects can vary for each person, low-to-moderate adversity typically involves distressing experiences like family conflict, occasional bullying, or an event such as a car accident that causes temporary distress but doesn’t result in long-term harm. The child’s perception of the event also affects the full severity.

“This is one of the first studies to show both that the timing of adversity exposure really matters and what underlying neural processes might contribute to risk or resilience to anxiety following adversity,” Dylan Gee, co-senior author and associate professor of psychology at Yale, said in a statement.

The researchers found that resilient people had distinct patterns of brain activity when distinguishing between danger and safety. These adults tended to be less triggered by stressful situations and feel less unsafe when mishaps occur, suggesting that resilience is learned through coping with these adverse experiences.

“Our findings suggest that a stronger ability to identify safety in particular may lower risk for anxiety disorders,” Sisk said. “Distinguishing between threat and safety is critical for survival because it allows us to know when we are safe versus when we need to get out of danger.”

People with anxiety disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder tend to struggle more with this distinction. “They are often on the look-out for danger even when there is none, and they can experience intense anxiety even when they are safe,” she noted.

Building Emotional Regulation

The brain pathway involved in building resilience is linked to the prefrontal cortex, which plays a major role in emotional regulation, decision-making, and behavior. The prefrontal cortex continues to develop throughout adolescence and early adulthood, typically to around age 25 or 26.

“The prefrontal cortex undergoes heightened plasticity during adolescence, which means that experiences—both positive and negative—can have a greater impact on its development and the ability to regulate fear during this stage,” Sisk said. “Because of this plasticity, adolescents can be more vulnerable to anxiety, but they also have particular potential to benefit from experiences or interventions that promote resilience.”

The team assessed 120 adults aged 18 to 30 across four key life stages: early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Participants completed the Dimensional Inventory of Stress and Trauma across the Lifespan (DISTAL), a clinician-administered interview, to provide insights into their psychological and emotional experiences. The DISTAL tool examines 24 types of adversity, including abuse, violence, serious injury, and displacement. It also looks at elements such as danger, deprivation, betrayal, or discrimination.

The series of questions explores how aspects of stress—such as timing and intensity—can impact brain development and behavior throughout life. The tool assesses severity in two ways: First, it measures the severity of exposure, looking at the intensity or significance of the traumatic experience, such as abuse or a serious accident. Second, it evaluates the severity of reaction, focusing on how the child personally responded to the event and its emotional and psychological impact.

By combining both the objective severity of the event and the person’s reaction, the tool provides a more complete understanding of how adversity shapes one’s development.

During a follow-up visit, the researchers used brain scans to measure neural activity as participants received cues that signaled threat or safety. These cues were simple geometric shapes, which participants had learned to associate with either an unpleasant sound (threat) or a neutral response (safety). The goal was to understand how the brain’s corticolimbic network—a system responsible for processing emotions, thoughts, and memories—responds to these cues.

Three Distinct Profiles

The study identified three distinct participant profiles.

The researchers found that those with fewer difficulties and challenges throughout their lives were more easily triggered by things they perceived as threatening and had a harder time feeling safe. In this study, safety refers to situations where a person feels secure or at ease, while threats are situations that cause stress or fear. For example, someone who faces little adversity might feel overwhelmed by a minor stressor, like a disagreement with a friend, because they perceive it as a bigger threat.

Secondly, those who experienced some level of adversity during middle childhood and adolescence were better at handling threats and tended to feel safer overall. This group might feel anxious in challenging situations but also have the coping skills to manage stress and feel secure.

Thirdly, those who had many rough experiences in life seemed less affected by both threats and feelings of safety, suggesting that too much adversity can make it harder to feel anything at all. They might react indifferently to stressful events or feel emotionally numb because they’ve been exposed to so many challenges that their emotional responses have dulled.

“The group with lower levels of anxiety, despite having experienced adversity during middle childhood and adolescence, was somewhat surprising,” Sisk said. “These findings may provide insight into when adversity exposure is linked with risk versus resilience.”

Implications for Mental Health

The study offers insights into why people respond differently to adversity during brain development and how it affects their mental health later on, according to Gee, who noted that this could help identify people at higher risk for developing anxiety disorders.

“If the same stressor occurs at age 5 versus age 15, it is affecting a brain at very different stages of development,” she added.

For example, if a child is bullied at age 5, they might not fully understand what’s happening or how to process it, which could affect their sense of safety or trust in others. By age 15, however, the same bullying might have a stronger emotional impact, like causing anxiety or depression. However, because the child’s brain is more developed and able to process emotions more deeply, they are better equipped to practice coping skills and manage the emotional effects.

In “The Anxious Generation,” author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote that one reason some struggle to feel safe in certain situations may be tied to the decline of free play. He points out that, starting in the 1980s, many parents began restricting unsupervised outdoor play because of safety concerns, even though the world was becoming safer. Without enough time to explore and test their limits, kids miss out on opportunities to build friendships, take risks, and learn how to handle challenges on their own.

Because of this, some children may struggle with anxiety or fear even in safe situations since they haven’t had the chance to develop the resilience that comes from navigating risks and overcoming obstacles independently. Haidt argues that kids need more unstructured playtime, especially outdoors and in mixed-age groups, with minimal adult supervision, so they can build that resilience.

To help kids and teens build resilience and handle adversity in a healthy way, the American Psychological Association suggests that parents and teachers:

• Help kids make connections: Encourage your child to spend time with friends and strengthen family bonds. Having a strong support network is key to building resilience.
• Teach self-care: Help your child develop healthy habits like eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, and making time for fun. These habits help kids stay balanced and manage stress better.
• Nurture a positive self-view: Remind your child of times they’ve overcome challenges. This boosts their confidence and helps them feel more capable of handling future difficulties.
• Maintain a daily routine: A steady routine can provide a sense of security, especially when things feel uncertain. Having a predictable schedule helps kids feel more in control.
• Look for opportunities for self-discovery: Difficult times are often when kids learn the most about themselves. Encourage them to think about what they’ve learned through challenges.

Future studies exploring how different types of adversity—such as whether the experience is sudden or ongoing—may impact brain development and mental health in the long run.