SynthesisJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2020
Meta-analysis: Exposure to Early Life Stress and Risk for Depression in Childhood and Adolescence.
Synthesis in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 302 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
302 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 617 citations in OpenAlex.
- Childhood internalising symptoms at ages 3 and 6: a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide associations from cord and peripheral blood.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Pooled it
- Associations between five forms of child maltreatment and depression: a multilevel meta-analytic comparison.Psychological medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Chronic social stressors and striatal dopamine functioning in humans: A systematic review of SPECT and PET studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Genetics, epigenetics, and neurobiology of childhood-onset depression: an umbrella review.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Evidence-based long term interventions targeting acute mental health presentations for children and adolescents: systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Developing a translational research framework for MDD: combining biomolecular mechanisms with a spiraling risk factor model.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Depression in youths with early life adversity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Resonance frequency versus fixed 0.1 Hz breathing in HRV biofeedback: a four-week randomized comparison.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Parenting Practices May Buffer the Impact of Adversity on Epigenetic Age Acceleration Among Young Children With Developmental Delays.Psychological science · 2023Trial
- The salient role of childhood neglect in single and multiple suicide attempts among adult psychiatric inpatients.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Maternal Depression, Childhood Resting-State Brain Connectivity, and Adolescent Depression During the COVID-19 Outbreak.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Adolescent mental health in Hong Kong: a longitudinal analysis of positive self-evaluation, contextual influences and adverse experiences (2009-2014).Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Article
- Autonomic and limbic system functioning, early life stress, and depressive symptoms in adolescence.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Sequelae of child maltreatment: Umbrella synthesis of 148 meta-analyses on the mental health correlates.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and Youth Depression - In Context.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 · 2026Article
- Contextualizing Depressive Symptoms in Latino/a Adolescents With a History of Stressful Life Events: The Role of Cognitive Coping and Sleep.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Early-life exposure to sugar rationing and long-term risk of depression and anxiety: a population-based natural experiment.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Early life adversity disrupts adult social reward motivation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Positive affect as a developmental mediator of early adversity and internalizing psychopathology.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
242 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveEarly life stress (ELS) is associated with increased risk for the development of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adulthood; however, the degree to which ELS is associated with an early onset of MDD (ie, during childhood or adolescence) is not known. In this meta-analysis, we estimated the associations between ELS and the risk for onset of MDD before age 18 years. In addition, we examined the associations between eight specific forms of ELS (ie, sexual abuse, physical abuse, poverty, physical illness/injury, death of a family member, domestic violence, natural disaster, and emotional abuse) and risk for youth-onset MDD.
methodWe conducted a systematic search in scientific databases for studies that assessed both ELS and the presence or absence of MDD before age 18 years. We identified 62 journal articles with a total of 44,066 unique participants. We assessed study quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. When heterogeneous effect sizes were detected, we tested whether demographic and/or methodological factors moderated the association between ELS and MDD.
resultsUsing a random-effects meta-analysis, we found that individuals who experienced ELS were more likely to develop MDD before the age of 18 years than were individuals without a history of ELS (odds ratio = 2.50; 95% confidence interval 2.08, 3.00). Separate meta-analyses revealed a range of associations with MDD: whereas some types of ELS (eg, poverty) were not associated with MDD, other types (eg, emotional abuse) were associated more strongly with MDD than was ELS considered more broadly.
conclusionThese findings provide important evidence that the adverse effect of ELS on MDD risk manifests early in development, prior to adulthood, and varies by type of ELS.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.