New publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan.

We received the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about a new publication that we thought you would find interesting:

Stress is an inevitable part of life. It helps children develop the skills they need to cope with and adapt to new and potentially threatening situations throughout life. However, the beneficial aspects of stress diminish when it is severe enough to over­whelm a child's ability to cope effectively. Intensive and prolonged stress can lead to a variety of short- and long-term negative health effects. It can disrupt early brain development and compromise functioning of the nervous and immune systems. In addition, childhood stress can lead to health problems later in life including alcoholism, depression, eating disorders, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's new publication The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan summarizes the research on childhood stress and its implications for adult health and well-being. Of particular interest is the stress caused by child abuse, neglect, and repeated exposure to intimate partner violence.

This publication provides violence prevention practitioners with ideas about how to incorporate information on childhood stress into their work and can be located online here.