- Home
- Key Concepts
Learn how safe, stable developmental environments, including responsive relationships with caring adults, can help buffer against sources of stress, supporting early development and lifelong health.
Key Takeaways
- Toxic stress occurs when there is excessive or prolonged activation of stress response systems in the brain and body.
- Toxic stress can disrupt the healthy development of brain architecture and other bodily systems, increasing risk for stress-related disease well into adulthood.
- Supportive relationships with caring adults can help buffer a child’s stress response, promoting resilience and healthy development.
Fast Facts
Experiencing positive stress in the context of responsive caregiver relationships is an important part of healthy development. Activation of our stress response systems produces a wide range of physiological reactions that prepare the body to deal with challenges or threats, including increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and the release of stress hormones like cortisol. When a young child has supportive caregiver relationships, these responses are brief and return to normal quickly, fostering the development of a healthy, protective stress response.
However, when these responses remain activated at high levels for extended periods of time—without supportive relationships to help calm them—the responses meant to be protective can become harmful, and toxic stress can result. This type of stress can impair the development of neural connections necessary for healthy brain architecture, especially in the areas of the brain dedicated to more complex skills like language, attention, and decision-making. It can also disrupt the development of biological systems more broadly, with impacts on learning, health, and well-being across the lifespan.
Supportive influences from a child’s social environment, including responsive relationships, can help calm stress responses and buffer against sources of stress, but policies that support children and families are also essential. A caregiver navigating homelessness, poverty, or climate-driven extreme weather events like flooding and heat waves—all of which can make it challenging to access needed resources—may experience their own high levels of stress, making it more challenging to provide support for children in their care.
To learn more about Toxic Stress, check out the related Working Paper, InBrief, Videos, and more!
Visit the Toxic Stress Resource Guide
When a toxic stress response occurs continually, or is triggered by multiple sources, it can take a cumulative toll on a young child’s health and well-being, with lifelong implications. The more adverse experiences in childhood, the greater the likelihood of developmental delays and later health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression. However, research has demonstrated that supportive, responsive relationships with caring adults as early in life as possible can help prevent or reverse the damaging effects of toxic stress response. This underscores the need for policies and programs that support caregivers to ensure we protect them from toxic stress and bolster their ability to provide attentive caregiving. In particular, it requires investment in marginalized communities where the needs are often greatest due to longstanding racist policies and underinvestment.
There are three types of stress responses: positive, tolerable, and toxic. These terms refer to the effects of the stress response systems on the body, not to the stressful event or experience itself.
Positive stress: A normal, brief reaction that is essential for development, characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. Examples include the first day at a new childcare setting or the temporary fear and discomfort that can come with receiving an immunization, with supportive relationships to help buffer against a child’s stress response.
Tolerable stress: More severe, longer-lasting reactions that activate the body’s alert systems to a greater degree, such as the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a frightening injury. If the stress activation is time-limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects.
Toxic stress: Occurs when a child experiences strong, frequent, prolonged adversity—such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse, exposure to violence, climate-driven extreme weather events like flooding, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship—without supportive relationships to buffer against stress. This can disrupt brain and organ development, potentially leading to lifelong health issues, underscoring the importance of policies and programs that support caregivers who can help protect children from toxic stress during times of adversity.
Related Resource Guides
Working Paper
Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain
Topics: Brain Architecture
May 14, 2005
Video
Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development
Topics: Neglect, Toxic Stress
Languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, English, Icelandic, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Urdu
September 9, 2011
Infographic
ACEs and Toxic Stress: Frequently Asked Questions
Topics: Toxic Stress
August 3, 2018
InBrief
InBrief: The Science of Neglect
Topics: Neglect
May 20, 2013
Presentation
Social and Behavioral Determinants of Toxic Stress
Topics: Toxic Stress
December 10, 2015
Infographic
What We Can Do About Toxic Stress
Topics: Resilience, Toxic Stress
July 17, 2019
Video
Stress and Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It
Topics: Resilience, Toxic Stress
Languages: Dutch, English
November 8, 2019
A Guide to Toxic Stress
Working Paper
Children’s Emotional Development Is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains
Topics: Developmental Environments
April 14, 2004
Working Paper
The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture
Topics: Brain Architecture
May 28, 2007
Working Paper
Young Children Develop in an Environment of Relationships
Topics: Developmental Environments
April 13, 2004
Podcast
The Brain Architects Podcast: Brain Architecture: Laying the Foundation
Topics: Brain Architecture
January 10, 2020
Video
Experiences Build Brain Architecture
Topics: Brain Architecture
Languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, English, Icelandic, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Serbian, Urdu
September 6, 2011
Brief
5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return
Topics: Serve and Return
Languages: English, Slovak, Spanish
June 19, 2017
Handout and Tool
Brain-Building Through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers, and Children
December 14, 2022
Video
Topics: Serve and Return
Languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, English, Icelandic, Japanese, Mandarin, Serbian, Spanish, Urdu
September 9, 2011
A Guide to Brain Architecture
Working Paper
Place Matters: The Environment We Create Shapes the Foundations of Healthy Development
Topics: Developmental Environments
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish
March 29, 2023
Infographic
Place Matters: What Surrounds Us Shapes Us
Topics: Brain Architecture, Lifelong Health and Wellbeing, Racism
March 25, 2023
Policy Insight
Solutions Spotlight | Place Matters
Topics: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing
March 29, 2023
Brief
Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children’s Potential
Topics: Racism
May 18, 2021
Infographic
How Racism Can Affect Child Development
Topics: Racism
November 16, 2020
Working Paper
Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
Topics: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing, Policy Insights
June 9, 2020
Article
Topics: Policy Insights
January 15, 2023
A Guide to Developmental Environments
Working Paper
Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
Topics: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing, Policy Insights
June 9, 2020
InBrief
InBrief | Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body
June 9, 2020
Infographic
What Is Inflammation? And Why Does it Matter for Child Development?
Topics: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing, Toxic Stress
August 11, 2020
Video
How Early Childhood Experiences Affect Lifelong Health and Learning
Topics: Lifelong Health and Wellbeing
Languages: English, Spanish
June 1, 2021
Video
Three Core Concepts in Early Development
Topics: Brain Architecture, Serve and Return, Toxic Stress
September 29, 2011
Brief
8 Things to Remember about Child Development
Languages: English, Slovak
May 23, 2016
Video
Science X Design: Three Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children
Topics: Developmental Environments
March 10, 2020
Brief
Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children’s Potential
Topics: Racism
May 18, 2021
A Guide to Lifelong Health and Well-being