The Influence of Trauma Exposure on Children’s Outcomes

All children should experience safety, stability, and stimulation from nurturing caregivers, who could be parents, other relatives, or persons external to the family, such as teachers. Unfortunately, the lives of many children are marked by exposure to traumatic events that potentially derail their development. In this chapter, we review the sequelae of trauma exposure on children’s outcomes. We begin by providing a framework for considering trauma’s effects on children and then summarize the research on trauma exposure and children’s outcomes across developmental and functional domains. Specifically, we cover the developmental sequelae across neurobiological, physical health and motor, cognitive-academic, language, social-emotional, and mental health domains. As is consistent with the focus of this volume, we briefly explore the implications of the impact of trauma exposure on school-based interventions for affected children.