Mission

CHAMP is focused on understanding and addressing the long-term impacts of childhood adversity and trauma on mental health. These experiences can significantly affect a person’s well-being throughout their life. However, diagnosing and treating these issues effectively has proven challenging due to the lack of precise tools and tailored interventions.

Children who have experienced early adversity often exhibit unique behaviors and cognitive skills. This project aims to better understand and support these vulnerable children and adolescents. By closely studying their mental health symptoms, cognitive abilities, and even changes in their epigenome resulting from their experiences, we aim to develop a comprehensive system for early detection and interventions. Our approach is rooted in a thorough understanding of how these challenges impact development and mental health.

Furthermore, our project addresses the educational obstacles faced by children and adolescents who have experienced adversity. We believe that Luxembourg has the potential to lead the way in providing quality education to all children, and our study represents a vital step toward realizing this goal.

Objective and research questions

The primary objective of the CHAMP project is to investigate the impact of childhood adversity on the developmental pathways that lead to mental health challenges and educational disadvantages in vulnerable children and adolescents, while also examining the roles of executive functions and epigenetic processes as both cognitive and biological markers and mediators within these pathways.

The project aims to answer the following questions

• Does exposure to adverse life circumstances during childhood and adolescence correlate with higher prevalence rates of mental health disorders, impaired executive functioning, and learning challenges?
• What factors predict the increased susceptibility to mental health issues and learning difficulties in children and adolescents who have experienced early adversity?
• Are there observable epigenetic alterations in children who have undergone early adversity and trauma compared to those who haven’t experienced such adversities?
• How do epigenetic modifications and executive functions interact in shaping the relationship between early adversity and both mental health conditions and learning outcomes?

Diagram © CHAMP