ArticleJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry2026
Is There Any Level of Stress Exposure That Is Beneficial?
Article in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveExposure to a modicum of stress-neither too much nor too little-may confer an adaptive advantage in the face of subsequent stress. This study tests whether there is a "sweet spot" of stress exposure in childhood.
methodThe analysis uses data from the prospective, longitudinal, representative Great Smoky Mountains Study. Childhood emotional symptoms and exposure to 32 different stressful events were assessed with a structured diagnostic interview in individuals aged 9 to 16 years (6,674 total observations). Three definitions of "moderate stress" were derived based upon the type of the prior event, the number of prior stressful events, and the severity of the stressful events. A series of planned post hoc comparisons tested whether prior exposure to moderate stress was advantageous when dealing with recent stressful life events.
resultsThe majority of participants reported no/low stress (67.8.5%-77.5%). Moderate stress or exposure to one stressful event was reported at between 14.8% and 26.0% of all childhood observations. In all models, both recent stress and past stress were independently associated with current emotional symptoms. Planned post hoc comparisons, however, suggested no evidence of an advantage of prior exposure to moderate stress in participants' response to recent stressful events. Findings were most consistent with a risk saturation effect.
conclusionIn this cohort study, there was no evidence of an adaptive level of prior stress exposure consistent with concepts of steeling or stress inoculation. Rather, both past and current stressful events affect current functioning up to some point beyond which there is little additional vulnerability. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT: We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.