How Experience Gets Under the Skin to Create Gradients in Developmental Health

Hertzman, Clyde; Boyce, Tom

doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.012809.103538

Cited by 602 publications

(467 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…A more recent focus within population sciences on how the broader environment "gets under the skin" suggests that this may be a key moment to look to the brain. Health psychologists have demonstrated that the broader environment becomes biologically embedded in the brain over the course of development (5,(13)(14)(15)(16)(17), but how does this yield observed variations within populations? Therefore, we argue that the critical juncture described for neuroscience research also poses an opportunity for population science research more broadly.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science

Falk

Hyde

Mitchell³

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

225

191

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The last decades of neuroscience research have produced immense progress in the methods available to understand brain structure and function. Social, cognitive, clinical, affective, economic, communication, and developmental neurosciences have begun to map the relationships between neuro-psychological processes and behavioral outcomes, yielding a new understanding of human behavior and promising interventions. However, a limitation of this fast moving research is that most findings are based on small samples of convenience. Furthermore, our understanding of individual differences may be distorted by unrepresentative samples, undermining findings regarding brain-behavior mechanisms. These limitations are issues that social demographers, epidemiologists, and other population scientists have tackled, with solutions that can be applied to neuroscience. By contrast, nearly all social science disciplines, including social demography, sociology, political science, economics, communication science, and psychology, make assumptions about processes that involve the brain, but have incorporated neural measures to differing, and often limited, degrees; many still treat the brain as a black box. In this article, we describe and promote a perspective-population neuroscience-that leverages interdisciplinary expertise to (i) emphasize the importance of sampling to more clearly define the relevant populations and sampling strategies needed when using neuroscience methods to address such questions; and (ii) deepen understanding of mechanisms within population science by providing insight regarding underlying neural mechanisms. Doing so will increase our confidence in the generalizability of the findings. We provide examples to illustrate the population neuroscience approach for specific types of research questions and discuss the potential for theoretical and applied advances from this approach across areas.neuroimaging | life course | statistics | survey methodology | physics Why Population Neuroscience? How do biology, social situations, and the broader environmental context interact to guide behavior, health, and development? This question is fundamental to most, if not all, social and behavioral sciences. We argue that to effectively address the many topics that stem from this larger question across disciplines, it is necessary to (i) bring a "population perspective" to neuroscience and (ii) leverage neuroscience tools within population sciences, which are subdisciplines of many fields, areas, and departments focused on documenting and understanding the dynamics of human populations, including outcomes such as health, well-being, behavior, etc.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science

Falk

Hyde

Mitchell³

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

225

191

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“…Hertzman went on to solidify his analysis about the importance of what at the time he termed "biological embedding" through a series of studies, analyses of other studies, and reinterpretations of existing literature through this new life course health development lens. In addition to publishing several important articles of conceptual synthesis, Hertzman and Daniel Keating edited the volume Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations in which they unpacked the impact of social gradients on health development and began to specify how different time-specific and pathway effects were at play early in development (Hertzman 1999;Keating and Hertzman 1999;Hertzman and Boyce 2010). They synthesized a wealth of evidence on how early experience affects a child's brain development, social and emotional functioning, and overall health capacities (Hertzman 1994;Keating and Hertzman 1999).…”

Section: The Maturation Of the Lchd Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to the Handbook of Life Course Health Development

Halfon

Forrest

Lerner

et al. 2017

Handbook of Life Course Health Development

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A critical mass of research linking early life events, experiences, and exposures with adult health conditions is delineating the developmental origins of many common chronic diseases. This emerging body of life course health development (LCHD) research specifies the complex adaptive processes by which both adversity and opportunity are integrated into developing biobehavioral systems. It is also challenging long-held views about origins and etiology of health and disease. There is a growing momentum among practitioners and policymakers to “connect the dots” between this rapidly expanding evidence base and the related practices and policies that are implemented within the fields of medicine, public health, nursing, mental health, education, urban planning, community development, social welfare, and others. At the same time, there is a strong impetus among LCHD researchers to continue to fill the substantial gaps in our knowledge and to ensure that research findings are appropriately synthesized and translated before being applied in clinical, public health, or public policy contexts. Comprised of 26 chapters that grew out of the 2013 Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Life Course Research Agenda-Setting Meeting that was organized by the MCH Life Course Research Network (LCRN) and funded by Health Resources and Services Administration-Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA-MCHB), this volume assesses what has been learned as the LCHD field has emerged, takes stock of what we know and do not know about how health and disease develop, provides some initial guidance regarding the kinds of interventions and efforts that can be beneficial, and lays the foundation for a research agenda that identifies high-priority areas for basic, clinical, population, and translational investigations in order to strategically target resources and efforts and advance the life course health sciences. In this introductory chapter, we begin by providing a rationale for the publication of this volume, including an historical overview that traces the emergence of the LCHD field and provides evidence of a significant, but as yet incomplete, transformation in how we think about and promote health. We go on to describe the purpose, structure, and content of the volume and examine some of the challenges the evolving field must consider as it adaptively moves forward. Finally, we provide readers with information about each section and chapter in this volume, including the impressive backgrounds of the various experts who contributed substantial amounts of both time and original thinking in their roles as authors.

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“…The same Canadian team that created the EDI and MDI is in the process of developing health development indices covering the entire child span, using the EDI to develop a pan-Canadian population health monitoring system (Guhn et al 2016b). In addition, the EDI has also been used as a measure in "cells to society" research that is examining the impact of social gradients and how that manifests in relationships to social epigenetics (Hertzman and Boyce 2010).…”

Section: Advance Lchd Measurement Capacity and Improve Study Design Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Course Research Agenda (LCRA), Version 1.0

Halfon¹,

Forrest

Lerner

et al. 2017

Handbook of Life Course Health Development

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Research Network (LCRN) and charged it with creating a new infrastructure for catalyzing progress and enhancing funding to support basic, theoretical, applied, and translational life course health development research of relevance to practice and policy. In addition to undertaking a variety of other activities and projects aimed at advancing the emerging field, the LCRN initiated an inclusive agendasetting process that resulted in the Handbook of Life Course Health Development, including this chapter and the research agenda it contains. For a more detailed description of the development and history of the LCRN, the Handbook, and the research agenda, please see the Preface and Introduction to this volume.

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How Experience Gets Under the Skin to Create Gradients in Developmental Health

Cited by 602 publications

References 85 publications

What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science

What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science

Introduction to the Handbook of Life Course Health Development

Life Course Research Agenda (LCRA), Version 1.0

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