Early Life Adversity, Environmental Enrichment, and Long-Term Health

In this talk, I present recent primate and human evidence on the importance of investing in the early years to promote health across the lifecourse. First, I provide evidence based on a unique long-running experiment on rhesus monkeys which are randomly allocated at birth across three different rearing conditions: mother-rearing, peer-rearing and surrogate peer-rearing. I use data from this experiment to show that the lack of a secure attachment relationship in early life (non-maternal rearing) in rhesus monkeys has long-term negative effects on both physical and mental health; that it also affects stress-response pathways; and that it causes changes in the expression of leukocyte genes related to immune function. Second, I present new evidence based on the two oldest and most widely-cited early childhood interventions: the Perry Preschool Program and the Carolina Abecedarian Project. Both the Perry and the Abecedarian interventions have shown substantial impacts on socioeconomic outcomes for treatment group members as compared to control group members. I present recent evidence which shows longlasting health effects of these two early childhood interventions throughout the mid-adult life of the participants. In sum, this talk shows that experiences occurring during critical periods of development can have long-term effects, and that, while children can be permanently damaged, the damage can also be remediated.