Chronic Stress of Maltreatment: Drug Use Vulnerability

对发育中的儿童来说，最深刻的慢性压力形式之一是受到虐待和忽视。 随着长期受到虐待的儿童的发展，他们有很大的风险使用药物，滥用， 成瘾因此，对长期受到虐待的儿童进行的调查为我们提供了一个自然的实验， 描述因压力导致的药物使用和滥用脆弱性的发展。慢性压力 对心理和生物发育的各种负面影响，并了解慢性 对多个发育系统的压力对于确定药物滥用的易感性至关重要。在这 调查，400名长期受到压力虐待的10至12岁儿童将与400名 为了确定慢性应激对神经内分泌调节的影响， 网络、执行功能能力和情绪调节能力。孩子们将参加一项研究 日营，同伴关系，人格组织，精神病理学，物质使用也将是 评估。将从任课教师那里获得对儿童在学校中发挥作用的评价， 母亲们还将提供关于家庭中其他压力来源的信息。基于发展 精神病理学的角度和利用以人为本的方法，我们希望确定不同形式的 压力导致的药物使用脆弱性。这些形式的脆弱性集中在 表现出不同类型的人格组织的长期受到压力虐待的儿童， 精神病理学将被调查。其他形式的压力暴露和药物使用的影响 在具有不同形式脆弱性的儿童中宣传易受药物使用影响的背景， 将被调查。研究结果将有望为预防和干预举措提供信息。

One of the most profound forms of chronic stress for the developing child is being subjected to abuse and neglect. As chronically stressed maltreated children develop, they are at substantial risk for substance use, abuse, and addiction. Thus, investigation of chronically stressed maltreated children provides a natural experiment for delineating the development of stress-induced vulnerabilities for substance use and abuse. Chronic stress exerts diverse negative effects on psychological and biological development, and understanding the impact of chronic stress on multiple developmental systems is critical for determining susceptibility to drug abuse. In this investigation, 400 chronically stressed maltreated 10-to 12-year-old children will be contrasted with 400 nonmaltreated children in order to determine the effects of chronic stress on neuroendocrine regulation, attention networks, executive function abilities, and emotion regulation capacities. Children will participate in a research day camp, and peer relations, personality organization, psychopathology, and substance use also will be assessed. Evaluations of child functioning in school will be obtained from classroom teachers, and the children's mothers also will provide information on additional sources of stress in the home. Based on a developmental psychopathology perspective and utilizing a person-centered approach, we expect to identify different forms of stress-induced vulnerability for substance use. The extent of aggregation of these forms of vulnerability within chronically stressed maltreated children who exhibit different types of personality organization and psychopathology will be investigated. The effects of additional forms of stress exposure and of a drug use promoting context on the susceptibility to substance use among children with different forms of vulnerability also will be investigated. The findings will hold promise for informing prevention and intervention initiatives.