Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-31-2024
Abstract
Addressing the tremendous burden of early-life adversity requires constructive dialogues between scientists and policy makers to improve population health. Whereas dialogues focused on several aspects of early-life adversity have been initiated, discussion of an underrecognized form of adversity that has been observed across multiple contexts and cultures is only now emerging. Here we provide evidence for “why unpredictability?”, including: 1. Evidence that exposures to unpredictability affect child neurodevelopment, with influences that persist into adulthood. 2. The existence of a translational non-human animal model of exposure to early life unpredictability that can be capitalized upon to causally probe neurobiological mechanisms. 3. Evidence that patterns of signals in the early environment promote brain maturation across species. 4. The uneven distribution of unpredictability across demographic populations that illuminates a possible focal point for enhancing health equity. We then outline the potential of unpredictability in terms of the “what”; that is, how might the concept of unpredictability be leveraged to inform policy? We emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary and community partnerships to the success of this work and describe our community-engaged research project. Finally, we highlight opportunities for the science of unpredictability to inform policies in areas such as screening, immigration, criminal justice, education, childcare, child welfare, employment, healthcare and housing.
Recommended Citation
Glynn, L. M., Liu, S. R., Lucas, C. T., & Davis, E. P. (2024). Leveraging the science of early life predictability to inform policies promoting child health. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 69, 101437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101437
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Child Psychology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Neurosciences Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Social Psychology Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, volume 69, in 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101437