By David Murphey and Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends, July 9, 2019.
Exposure to adversity in childhood is widespread and can pose a serious threat to individual health and well-being over the life course. By age 18, nearly half (45 percent) of children in the United States have had at least one adverse experience; among young children and other vulnerable subgroups, the prevalence is much higher. Childhood adversity is defined as one or more stressful events or conditions that can threaten a child’s sense of safety and negatively affect the child’s developing brain, physical and mental health, and behavior. Examples of common childhood adversities include abuse and neglect, living with a parent with mental illness or a substance abuse disorder, or witnessing violence.
[For more on this story, written by Child Trends, go to: https://www.childtrends.org/pu...-to-childhood-trauma]
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