Why and how does early adversity influence development? Toward an integrated model of dimensions of environmental experience

Abstract Two extant frameworks – the harshness-unpredictability model and the threat-deprivation model – attempt to explain which dimensions of adversity have distinct influences on development. These models address, respectively, why, based on a history of natural selection, development operates the way it does across a range of environmental contexts, and how the neural mechanisms that underlie plasticity and learning in response to environmental experiences influence brain development. Building on these frameworks, we advance an integrated model of dimensions of environmental experience, focusing on threat-based forms of harshness, deprivation-based forms of harshness, and environmental unpredictability.…

• UO
  University of Utah
• NI
  National Institute of Mental Health

  Awards: R37-MH119194, MH103291, R01-MH106482, R01-MH103291