Grant: Operating Grant

Youths growing up in adverse environments such as neglectful or abusive families are more vulnerable to develop mental health problems, to experience difficulties with their peers and to encounter problems with the law throughout their lives. While these associations are widely known, from the general public to policy makers, it has proven difficult to translate knowledge into actions that effectively prevent these outcomes that pose a danger to the person and society as a whole. One explanation might be that we know very little about the processes whereby early adversity gets "under the skull, skin and cells" to instigate long-term risk towards mental health (e.g. depression, conduct disorder, substance use disorders). Animal research has taught us that early adversity jeopardizes brain development and disrupts our biological systems designed to help us cope with stress. These changes are believed to affect long-term vulnerabilities to mental health. Our objective is to further understand how early adversity influences adolescents' biological functioning and how these relate to mental health in humans. Participants will come from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), a large sample of adolescents born in 1997-1998 and followed between the ages of 5 months and 12 years. We propose to test two key questions: (1) Does early adversity alter our biological systems supporting adaptation to stress, as measured by stress hormones and markers that affect the expression of our genes? (2) Do disruptions in these biological markers explain the impact of early adversity on mental health problems in adolescence? This project is well positioned to make a strong return on financial investment and in terms of discoveries that can be implemented into more effective strategies for children facing adversity to help them reverse their susceptibilities by fostering their potential.