Adversity
hits everyone at various points in adult life, whether it comes in the form of
physical injury, sickness, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, a broken
romance, financial problems, or a series of disappointments that don’t seem
fair.
Many
adults learn to adjust to adversity and become stronger from it. But how much
harder is it for those who suffered severe events during their childhood?
Medical professionals say Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) —
a term associated with a long study of traumatic experiences that occur to
people under the age of 18 — have lasting negative impacts well into adulthood.
ACEs
are estimated to afflict over 34 million U.S. children, and a comprehensive
study published in JAMA Pediatrics found a quarter of adults had at least three adverse experiences
in childhood, increasing their risk for heart disease, cancer, depression and
substance abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that
ACEs have been linked to chronic health conditions, risky behaviors, low life
potential and early death.
“The
long-term damage of childhood adversity is real and tragic, sometimes affecting
people for the rest of their lives,” says Jennifer Lynch, an educator, child
advocate and author of the children’s book Livi and Grace(www.jenniferlynchbooks.com).
“It can hurt them in every aspect of their adult life, cause them to be far less
than they could have been otherwise, and make them view themselves negatively
and the world the same way.
“We
need to create hope for children who have been through these awful experiences,
and further, we need to realize that millions of adults are still carrying
these traumatic memories and feelings with them. They, too, need hope and
support to overcome.”
Lynch
goes over three of the most traumatic childhood experiences that can affect
adults long into their lives:
Abuse. Numerous studies detail
how child abuse and neglect can affect individual development — psychological,
behavioral, and physical. “Emotion processing, which enables social competence,
can be severely affected into adulthood and make one feel like an outcast or
misunderstood,” Lynch says. “Being mistreated as a child, it’s a long road to
feeling accepted and even to knowing how to treat others.”
Bullying. Some young adults who
were bullied as
a child could have a greater risk of ongoing depression due to a mix of genetic
and environmental factors, according to a study from the University of
Bristol. “As a result of bullying, depression, lack of confidence, and
isolation can strike hard in the teen years, but certainly it can get worse
over the long haul if the bullying experiences are buried,” Lynch says. “And
then there’s evidence that those who were bullied as youths become bullies
themselves as adults.”
Separation from parents. This has become a big
topic due to migrant detentions on the U.S.-Mexico border. “It’s been shown
time and again, and especially now — separating kids from their parents is
detrimental to their health, mentally and physically,” Lynch says. “A parent
who’s routinely there for a child buffers them, but separate the parent and
child for a prolonged period and the child’s brain is in danger of not
developing properly. They’re vulnerable to depression, substance abuse, and
anxiety.”
“These
unfortunate things that happen to so many children can cause them to live in
shame and to do so for the rest of their adult lives,” Lynch says. “But the
past does not define who they are or who they can become.”
About Jennifer Lynch
Jennifer
Lynch, author of the children’s book Livi
and Grace (www.jenniferlynchbooks.com),
is an educator and child advocate who serves as a guardian ad litem, a person
appointed to represent a child’s interests in a court case. She has worked as a
special education teacher for an elementary school and as a preschool teacher.
In addition, Lynch created the You Are Good brand of T-shirts and other products
for sale and for donations. Thousands of the shirts have been donated to
children and teenagers in the system. She holds a bachelor’s degree in
psychology from Texas A&M University.
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