Developmental responses to early‐life adversity
Evolutionary and mechanistic perspectives
Bibliographic Data
Adverse ecological and social conditions during early life are known to influence development, with rippling effects that may explain variation in adult health and fitness. The adaptive function of such developmental plasticity, however, remains relatively untested in long‐lived animals, resulting in much debate over which evolutionary models are most applicable. Furthermore, despite the promise of clinical interventions that might alleviate the health consequences of early‐life adversity, research on the proximate mechanisms governing phenotypic responses to adversity have been largely limited to studies on glucocorticoids. Here, we synthesize the current state of research on developmental plasticity, discussing both ultimate and proximate mechanisms. First, we evaluate the utility of adaptive models proposed to explain developmental responses to early‐life adversity, particularly for long‐lived mammals such as humans. In doing so, we highlight how parent‐offspring conflict complicates our understanding of whether mothers or offspring benefit from these responses. Second, we discuss the role of glucocorticoids and a second physiological system—the gut microbiome—that has emerged as an additional, clinically relevant mechanism by which early‐life adversity can influence development. Finally, we suggest ways in which nonhuman primates can serve as models to study the effects of early‐life adversity, both from evolutionary and clinical perspectives
Biology · Developmental plasticity · Developmental psychology · Evolutionary biology · Evolutionary medicine · Offspring · Pregnancy · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Birth, Development, and Health · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Psychology · Stress Responses and Cortisol
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The Maternal Capital Hypothesis
The force of selection on the human life cycle
Delivery mode shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota across multiple body habitats in newborns
Pleiotropy, Natural Selection, and the Evolution of Senescence
How Do Glucocorticoids Influence Stress Responses? Integrating Permissive, Suppressive, Stimulatory, and Preparative Actions
Parent-Offspring Conflict
Resilience
Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus
The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity
Competence and Resilience in Development
Fetal programming
Maternal capital and the metabolic ghetto
Steroid hormone concentrations in milk predict sex‐specific offspring growth in a nonhuman primate
Early life events and their consequences for later disease
Composition and stability of the vervet monkey milk microbiome
Natural variation in fetal cortisol exposure is associated with neonatal body mass in captive vervet monkeys ( Chlorocebus aethiops )
Male‐mediated prenatal loss
Foraging for survival
Reproductive suppression in female primates
Maternal Behavior and Physiological Stress Levels in Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)
Epigenetic plasticity following early stress predicts long‐term health outcomes in rhesus macaques
Incorporating the gut microbiota into models of human and non‐human primate ecology and evolution
Peripartum cortisol levels and mother‐infant interactions in Japanese macaques
Semiautomatic extraction of cortical thickness and diaphyseal curvature from CT scans
Age at reproductive debut
Opportunistic mothers
Primate Life Histories and Socioecology
Early Environments, Stress, and the Epigenetics of Human Health
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |