6 takeaways:
➀ Epigenetics can be influenced by the environment. Epigenetics “refers to biochemical modifications that alter how our genes are expressed,” said Dr. Tracy Bale, director of the Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health & Brain Development at the University of Maryland. “It’s not something that you only have when something bad happens. Epigenetics are present in all our cells all the time.” They do not affect the DNA sequence, but “they can absolutely be affected – the levels of them and the types of them – by our environment,” such as growing up in poverty and other risk factors for adverse childhood experiences, for example.
➁ Epigenetics and intergenerational trauma aren’t synonymous. “Now the question becomes, can [epigenetics] be inherited?” Bale said. Biochemical markers are essentially erased in the process of an embryo’s development. “Through all those cell divisions, whether it’s a mouse or a human, there is no known mechanism to propagate that … epigenetic mark,” Bale said. “It’s not the epigenetics that are transmitted.” But does that mean trauma can’t be passed down? Dr. Sierra Carter, a clinical psychologist and race and trauma researcher, said “humans are messy,” and it is difficult to separate “what are things that could be passed down, not only genetically but also through learned processes around how to survive in oppressive environments” — for instance, the way someone behaves as a parent with PTSD could influence children in that environment. “At the heart of intergenerational trauma is what is being passed down from those who directly experience a traumatic incident to subsequent generations,” Carter said. Whether it’s called intergenerational trauma, ancestral history, historical trauma, Carter described it as “a validation-seeking of pain.”
➂ Pain and poverty go together, but it’s multi-dimensional. “A lot of people who are dealing with poverty are made to feel really bad about themselves,” said Pam Fessler, author and former NPR correspondent who covered poverty for 13 years. “Knowing that there’s something else going on that they don’t necessarily have control over would actually make a lot of them feel like, ‘Oh, well maybe it’s not all my fault.’” Science around societal issues could influence public attitude and policy, the panelists agreed. Investigating potential solutions is part of a journalist’s job, as is providing context, Fessler said. “Don’t go into it looking at anybody as totally representative of poor people,” she said. “There are people in this country who become poor for brief periods of time, they go in and out of poverty. We have people who are basically stuck in poverty for generations … you’re covering a very diverse group of people.” Fessler said she always spent multiple days with sources, if she could, including visiting their home. “Invariably, you just saw the impact that it was having generationally, that you could see the children who were struggling because their parents were struggling. And often when I would talk to the parents, they would talk about the things that they had gone through as children.”
➃ Scientists and journalists alike must resist overstating studies’ findings. “These TikToks – my head exploded at watching people say that some grandpa experienced some train crash and now his granddaughter was afraid of elevators or whatever. I was like, ‘Okay, that’s just nonsense,’” Bale said. “But when we make overstatements, people’s takeaway and their understanding can go a little off the track.” She warns, also, of studies that suggest “mice with depression” or “mice experiencing trauma,” noting that mice can experience stressors but not “trauma” like humans. To understand the legitimacy and significance of a study, talk not only to the scientists who conducted it but to other respected scientists in the field. “Talking to the people who did the science can provide a lot of information about where they think it is going,” Carter said.
➄ Bad experiences can be stressors without being trauma. Job loss or losing a loved one due to natural causes are examples of stressful experiences that clinicians do not consider traumas. Life-threatening experiences and sexual assault are considered traumas with the potential to lead to PTSD. The distinction matters both in terms of diagnoses and treatment. Other experiences are researched and debated in terms of trauma vs. stressor. “I also think racism is traumatic and I also think in ways poverty is traumatic,” Carter said. Whether COVID-19 will be deemed trauma by scientists will depend on research.
➅ Diversity is needed among journalists and scientists, as well as their sources and subjects. Socioeconomic diversity among sources and coverage, regardless of beat, “is amazingly crucial,” Fessler said. Bale said the same is true for scientists. It’s not just about who is speaking at a conference. “The cohort of individuals that you’re studying around a given topic needs to be representative as well, and across the United States that really does not happen,” she said. Biases can get in the way of journalists as it can the public at large. In covering people experiencing poverty and homelessness, “what struck me was there was this extraordinary talent and skill and human spirit that was being wasted in so many ways by our society,” Fessler said. “That’s what drove me to keep covering these stories.”
For more on structural racism, brain development, environmental influence and why it matters, see the full recording.
Speakers:
Dr. Tracy Bale, Director, Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health & Brain Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. Sierra Carter, Director, Health Equity, Agency, Racism and Trauma (HEART) Lab; Psychology Professor, Georgia State University
Pam Fessler, Author; Former Correspondent, NPR News
This program was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
