Biological Clues to Mental Health Disorders in Children

Authors

  • Prisha Aggarwal Highschool

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v14i1.8913

Keywords:

Mental Health Disorders, biological indicators, cortisol, hormones, inflammation, IL-6, CRP, epigenetic factors, genetic factors

Abstract

Mental health disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent in the population. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism levels have been increasing in children in the last decade. This has raised concerns and has emphasized the need for understanding the different biological factors that impact mental health in children. This paper investigates the relationship between biological indicators and mental health disorders in children. The conditions have been found to be associated with three main areas: hormonal dysregulation (particularly cortisol); inflammatory markers (interleukin-6 (IL-6) C-reactive protein (CRP)); changes in genetic and epigenetic factors.  

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References or Bibliography

World Health Organization. (2023, June 8). Mental disorders. https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). Child and adolescent mental health. Retrieved March 2024, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescent-mental-health

Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved April, 2024., from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-hpa-axis

Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Cortisol. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved December 10, 2021., from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol

MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Acute vs. chronic conditions. Retrieved May 3, 2024, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/18126.htm#:~:text=Overview,such%20as%20osteoporosis%20or%20asthma

Sroykham, W., & Wongsawat, Y. (2019). Effects of brain activity, morning salivary cortisol, and emotion regulation on cognitive impairment in elderly people. Medicine, 98(26), e16114. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000016114

Cameron, C. A., McKay, S., Susman, E. J., Wynne-Edwards, K., Wright, J. M., & Weinberg, J. (2017). Cortisol Stress Response Variability in Early Adolescence: Attachment, Affect and Sex. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(1), 104–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0548-5

Dziurkowska, E., & Wesolowski, M. (2021). Cortisol as a Biomarker of Mental Disorder Severity. Journal of clinical medicine, 10(21), 5204. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10215204

Assad, S., Khan, H. H., Ghazanfar, H., Khan, Z. H., Mansoor, S., Rahman, M. A., Khan, G. H., Zafar, B., Tariq, U., & Malik, S. A. (2017). Role of Sex Hormone Levels and Psychological Stress in the Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Diseases. Cureus, 9(6), e1315. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.1315

Tubbs, J. D., Ding, J., Baum, L., & Sham, P. C. (2020). Immune dysregulation in depression: Evidence from genome-wide association. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health, 7, 100108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100108

Wein, H., Contie, V., & Doctrow, B. (Eds.). (2013, March 18). Common genetic factors found in 5 mental disorders. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/common-genetic-factors-found-5-mental-disorders

Grezenko, H., Ekhator, C., Nwabugwu, N. U., Ganga, H., Affaf, M., Abdelaziz, A. M., Rehman, A., Shehryar, A., Abbasi, F. A., Bellegarde, S. B., & Khaliq, A. S. (2023). Epigenetics in Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders: A Comprehensive Review of Current Understanding and Future Perspectives. Cureus, 15(8), e43960. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.43960

Published

02-28-2025

How to Cite

Aggarwal, P. (2025). Biological Clues to Mental Health Disorders in Children. Journal of Student Research, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v14i1.8913

Issue

Section

HS Review Articles