Lives Across Time: Developmental Perspectives on Stress, Adversity, & Child Mental Health

Understanding how experience shapes individual lives is an endeavor central not only to the human condition as expressed in the arts and our day to day stories but also to developmental research. Findings from contemporary... [ view full abstract ]

Understanding how experience shapes individual lives is an endeavor central not only to the human condition as expressed in the arts and our day to day stories but also to developmental research. Findings from contemporary social neuroscience, immunology, and neurogenetics suggest how all experiences are woven into our brain architecture, our immune system, our genes, and of course, into how we perceive and respond to the world. As a developmental researcher and a physician, it is a privilege and a gift to be allowed into so many individuals’ lives as these unfold from birth into adulthood. This lecture will focus on how early stress and adversity shapes the trajectories of so many children from the level of brain to the level of life’s meaning and opportunity and how we as caring citizens informed by developmental science have a social responsibility to ensure a healthier, better potential for the next generation.