Stressful events early in a person's life, such as neglect or abuse, can have psychological impacts into adulthood. New research shows that these effects may persist in their children and even their grandchildren.

Larry Feig and Lorena Saavedra-Rodríguez, biochemists at the Tufts University School of Medicine, caused chronic social stress in adolescent mice by regularly relocating them to new cages over the course of seven weeks. The researchers then tested these stressed mice in adulthood using a series of standard laboratory measures for rodent anxiety, such as how long the mice spent in open areas of a maze and how frequently they approached mice they had never met before.

Female mice showed more anxious behaviors compared with control animals, whereas the males did not. Both sexes' offspring displayed more anxious behaviors, however, and the males who had been stressed as adolescents even transmitted these behavior patterns to their female grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

These results, they say, confirm previous studies that females seem to be at higher risk for anxiety, which could be the result of a variety of social or biochemical factors. “Males and females might have the same abnormality at the molecular level,” Feig notes, “[but] as males, it doesn't really affect their behavior.”

Although Feig does not yet know how the males transmit vulnerability to anxiety—he suspects biochemical changes in sperm—he believes that the effects will most likely be more muted in humans. The mice were raised in simple cages with a limited number of environmental influences. Humans, of course, have a much richer environment, along with the ability to learn new coping skills.

This article was originally published with the title Inheriting Stress.

8 Comments

1. 1. touristth 10:13 PM 12/20/12

   This is fascinating! I am a former neuroscientist, turned energy practitioner. In a method I use called the Emotion Code, we can trace "trapped emotions" back generations. Its led me to completely understand how the trauma of a society (ie the Jews with the Houlocaust, our history of slavery, and treatment of Native Americans) can so profoundly affect future generations. Please continue this important research. I find in humans a huge range of negative emotions get passed down through the generations. I think this research has just hit the tip of the iceberg!

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2. 2. rshoff 03:29 PM 2/11/13

   ....learn new coping skills? I am a firm believer that acquiring 'coping skills' does not lend itself to changing the processes occurring within our own internal chemical and biological environment. Skills can be used to change behavior, but not who we are. They can be used to avoid the irritants, but not how the irritants affect us. I think more important is empowerment, not coping skills.

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3. 3. Loml6 01:37 PM 2/12/13

   rshoff, outstanding comment, thank you for sharing your perspective. Self-empowerment is something that is not touched on enough in todays society. Self-empowerment is not gender specific either. Yes, bad things happen to everyone,what is amazing is how some people can push through and others cannot and just give up. Living with awareness of ourselves is very helpful to the outcome of future generations.

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4. 4. MiddleAmericaMS 01:57 PM 2/12/13

   I've been saying this for years!
   
   Great article.
   
   :)

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5. 5. mcphilosopher 02:00 PM 2/13/13

   It is important research that may help current and future generations of young people. It is equally important, however, not to extrapolate preliminary results to human beings, where the mere consciousness of one's plight could produce reactions--for good or for ill-- that are not easy to forecast.
   

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6. 6. Ronald Patrick Marriott 10:56 AM 2/16/13

   Unless the adult parents were killed...the brain and mind connection still exists to the children. To truly understand this mind connection please see sperm testing (human shock tests)

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7. 7. Ronald Patrick Marriott in reply to touristth 10:59 AM 2/16/13

   I have discovered how the aether is built. records permanently stored "hydrogen memory" and the human brain connection. High energy "mono source" photons. Relativistic Perturbation Mantle @ rpmantle dot com ...

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8. 8. ceholter 07:09 PM 2/19/13

   Very important study indeed, which could have vast implications. I am writing about this in terms of the after-effects of war, of how so many of us suffer from the untreated trauma in previous generations. I am writing as a journalist, a poet, a mother, a woman... It is about time we realize the interconnectedness between generations and hence, our responsibilities towards our children and beyond. We are at a pivotal point. We now have the resources, tools and awareness to rewrite the imported scripts from previous generations of souls stunted by trauma; from wars to diseases to oppression caused by a patriarchal system that served neither man nor woman well. I am trying to do my bit for the future health of my children, their wives/partners, their children, their children's children... This scientific finding supports my mission. Thank you. Please continue this important work. It will be of enormous benefit to us all.

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