A new study from Tulane University found children in New Orleans are affected biologically by their neighborhoods.
The lead author is Katherine Theall of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She says the study included 85 children between the ages of 5 to 16 throughout the city.
Results of saliva tests showed indicators that could lead to health problems.
Theall says the most profound effects of stress affecting children stem from violence in the home – but neighborhoods also contribute.
“The main one that played out was really violence in the home. So violence in the neighborhood really led to violence in the home and, again, as children are exposed to more and more violence I think we’re getting a better understanding of what this might be doing physiologically under the skin, even if there’s no overt signs or behavioral signs of great exposure to violence," she said. " It could be still affecting them biologically.”
Findings are published in the Pediatrics Journal of the American Medical Association.
