TY - JOUR PY - 2020// TI - Challenges in researching the immune pathways between early life adversity and psychopathology JO - Development and psychopathology A1 - Danese, Andrea A1 - Reid, Brie SP - 1597 EP - 1624 VL - 32 IS - 5 N2 - Exposure to childhood adversity is a critical risk factor for the development of psychopathology. A growing field of research examines how exposure to childhood adversity is translated into biological risk for psychopathology through alterations in immune system functioning, most notably heightened levels of inflammation biomarkers. Though our knowledge about how childhood adversity can instantiate biological risk for psychopathology is growing, there remain many challenges and gaps in the field to understand how inflammation from childhood adversity contributes to psychopathology. This paper reviews research on the inflammatory outcomes arising from childhood adversity and presents four major challenges that future research must address: (a) the measurement of childhood adversity, (b) the measurement of inflammation, (c) the identification of mediators between childhood adversity and inflammation, and (d) the identification of moderators of inflammatory outcomes following childhood adversity. We discuss synergies and inconsistencies in the literature to summarize the current understanding of the association between childhood adversity, a proinflammatory phenotype, and the biological risk for psychopathology. We discuss the clinical implications of the inflammatory links between childhood adversity and psychopathology, including possibilities for intervention. Finally, this review conclude by delineates future directions for research, including issues of how best to detect, prevent, and understand these "hidden wounds" of childhood adversity.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0954-5794 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579420001157 ID - ref1 ER -