Stress among children early on in life may leave enduring impacts on the brain, new research suggests. While a small amount of stress acts as a building point for learning, coping, and adapting, too much stress, whether it is chronic, toxic, or from neglect or physical abuse, can have lasting negative impacts on the child.

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently indicated that these types of stressors, when experienced early on in life, can alter parts of a child’s developing brain. Affected areas include learning, memory, and how the brain processes emotion and stress. Such changes may lead to negative impacts on behavior, employment, health, and selection of romantic partners.

The study was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Jamie Hanson, the lead author of the study and recent UW PhD graduate, notes that the study could be important to economists, public policy leaders, and epidemiologists.

Co-leader of the study and professor of psychology at UW-Madison, Seth Pollak, said in a statement, “We haven’t really understood why things that happen when you’re 2, 3, 4 years old stay with you and have a lasting impact.”

According to Pollak, stress early on in life is linked to depression, anxiety, cancer, heart disease, and lack of success regarding education and employment.

According to psychcentral.com, stress is typically accompanied by various physical reactions, which may include grinding teeth, disturbance in sleep patterns, agitated behavior, increased heart rate, noncardiac chest pains, and muscle tension or twitching in the body.