Violence and Stress duringChildhood: Implications in Child´sDevelopment

Abstract

The increase of violence against children in all social and economical levels is alarming and increasingly concerned the entire society and the medical profession for their potential negative consequences throughout the life of children who suffer from it. The interaction with the environment and stressful experiences are crucial to child ́s development from the beginning of his life in maternal womb and during childhood. In recent decades, several researches have shown the association between violence and stress in early life with effects on brain structure and function, psychiatric, cognitive and affective disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes in adult life. The unacceptably high number of children exposed to violence and stress in our society urges the need to take actions and reduce the riskof a child from becoming a victim and to prevent the serious neurobiological, physical, mental and emotional short and long term consequences. This requires the elaboration of prevention and support programs for the high number of victims. It should be noted that poverty in which a significant proportion of our children live is an important form of violence. The family, as the child ́s primary environment, responsible for their protection and healthy development, plays a crucial role in the prevention and the restoration of the child who experiences violence early in life.