In the last years, research has shown a strong graded relationship between exposure to adverse childhood events and negative health outcomes in adulthood. However little is known about the short-term impact of those events in children’s biology. With this project it is aimed to assess the extent to which childhood social adverse events “get under the skin” affecting health already during childhood. This will be accomplished through an analysis of the biological mechanisms linking adverse social experiences (i.e childhood material deprivation and violence) to specific cardiovascular and metabolic biomarkers. This research project is part of an ongoing population-based birth cohort – Generation XXI – established in 2005/2006 involving more than 8600 children born in Porto, Portugal.
