Forging strong social relationships helps overcome childhood trauma, prolongs life: Study

As per a study published on May 17 in the journal Science Advances, results from almost 36 years of data of 200 baboons in southern Kenya indicate that forging strong social relationships can help eliminate the effects of a traumatic childhood, both in humans and baboons.

A deeper delve into the study

As per this new study, researchers have analysed how the early life experiences and adult social connections have affected the long-term survival in 199 female baboons from 1983 to 2019.

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The team responsible for conducting the study equated each female’s exposure to six potential sources of early adversity, such as whether she had a low-ranking or socially isolated mother or if her mother died before she reached maturity, whether she had a sibling close to her age, if she was born in a drought year or if she was born into a large group. All these factors could contribute to a better understanding of the childhood experiences of the baboons.

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The study further found that stressful experiences are very common for the baboons growing up in the semi-arid and unpredictable landscape of Amboseli. Out of the 199 baboons in the study, 75 per cent suffered through at least one stressor, and 33 per cent had two or more. Also, baboons who have had a bad experience at a young age are more likely to be socially isolated as adults.

Early hardships translate to premature deaths?

Consistent studies in the area have proven that people who go through bad experiences in their childhood, such as abuse, neglect or a parent with mental illness are likely to die early. As per the report published in the journal Science Advances, study found that people who experienced more than three sources of socio-environmental adversity before age 18 faced a 9.5-year reduction in quality-adjusted adult life expectancy. However, determining the mechanisms behind premature death has been difficult for researchers to find.

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Baboons who had traumatic childhood experiences were able to reclaim two years of life expectancy by forming strong friendships. These results are in sync with the previous findings that the more hardship a female baboon faces, the shorter her lifespan.

One hypothesis to support this claim is that trauma survivors often grow up to have troubled relationships as adults and the lack of social support cuts their life short.

Baboons and humans

Even though the childhood of baboons is different from that of humans, the former share more than 90 per cent of their DNA with humans.

In a statement given to The Print, co-author and Duke University biologist and evolutionary anthropologist Susan Alberts said, “It’s like the saying from the King James Apocrypha, ‘a faithful friend is the medicine of life’.”

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