Medical Student Research Forum Posters

Multiple studies have shown the link between childhood adversity and various poor health outcomes including suicide risk, substance use disorder, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and others. The effects of childhood trauma are complex and probably multi-factorial and may have physiological links to increased cortisol levels and subsequent blunted hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity. Although research has identified several risk factors for ACEs, there are few qualitative studies assessing how adolescents perceive their own childhood adversity experiences and how they have coped.