Brain Growth Hampered by Childhood Neglect

Neglecting a child can adversely affect the development of their brain, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) determined in a new study conducted on Romanian children enrolled in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) survey.

The correlation holds true for both psychological and physical neglect. This is just the latest in a string of investigations that established a large number of negative links between childhood abuse and a person's health status later on in life.

“The implications are wide-ranging, not just for institutionalized children but also for children exposed to abuse, abandonment, violence during war, extreme poverty and other adversities,” explains BCH Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience expert and study leader, Margaret Sheridan, PhD.

The study, published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, should from now on be used by authorities as a guideline when developing new public healthcare policies against parental abuse and neglect, PsychCentral reports.