Child Development & Trauma Impact Flashcards

According to Piaget, a 6-year-old trauma survivor who believes the abuse was their fault is demonstrating which cognitive characteristic?

Answer: Preoperational egocentrism

Children in the preoperational stage are egocentric and tend to believe events—including trauma—revolve around or are caused by themselves.

Prolonged childhood trauma most commonly leads to which alteration in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis?

Answer: Blunted cortisol reactivity and flattened diurnal rhythm

Chronic trauma often dysregulates the HPA axis, resulting in blunted cortisol response and disrupted diurnal cortisol rhythms rather than perpetual elevation.

A teenager with a childhood trauma history presents with impulsivity, poor planning, and difficulty learning from consequences. Which brain region's development is most impacted?

Answer: Prefrontal cortex

Trauma impairs maturation of the prefrontal cortex, which governs executive functions such as impulse control, planning, and consequence learning.

Which term describes the phenomenon where a traumatized child's emotional age is younger than their chronological age?

Answer: Trauma-induced regression

Trauma-induced regression occurs when stress causes a child to revert emotionally or behaviorally to an earlier developmental stage.

In Bruce Perry's Neurosequential Model, which sequence correctly represents the order in which the brain should be addressed in trauma treatment?

Answer: Regulatory → Relational → Cognitive

Perry's Neurosequential Model prescribes addressing lower brain functions (regulation) first, then relational capacity, and finally higher cortical (cognitive) processing.

A child who experienced chronic neglect in infancy is most likely to show which pattern in Strange Situation testing?

Answer: Disorganized attachment (Type D)

Chronic neglect, like abuse, frequently produces disorganized (Type D) attachment because caregivers fail to provide a consistent safe base, leaving the child without a coherent coping strategy.

Which developmental theorist described 'sensitive periods' during which the nervous system is especially plastic and vulnerable to environmental input, including trauma?

Answer: John Bowlby

Bowlby integrated ethological concepts of sensitive periods into attachment theory, emphasizing that early relational experiences have outsized impact on neural and psychological development.