WHO: Two-thirds of young Europeans experienced childhood trauma with lifelong consequences

More than one in five young people reported experiencing four or more such adverse events during childhood.

“If a child grows up in an environment of violence or in a dysfunctional family constantly facing crises, it should come as no surprise that these experiences follow them into school, work, and personal relationships,” said Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Health Systems at WHO/Europe.

She noted that the scale of the problem is often underestimated and that its consequences affect several areas of people's lives.

“This is not solely a mental health issue. It is a social and economic issue, and addressing it requires the involvement of all sectors, not just health services,” Azzopardi-Muscat added.

The report presents findings from a survey of more than 26,000 young people aged 18 to 30 across Europe, conducted between November 2025 and January 2026, Euronews reports. Researchers assessed exposure to nine types of adverse childhood experiences: physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; physical neglect; substance use within the family; mental illness among family members; parental divorce or death; and witnessing domestic violence during childhood.

“The findings are remarkably consistent: adverse childhood experiences underpin poorer health outcomes, as well as worse social and economic outcomes among young adults across Europe,” said Mark Bellis of Liverpool John Moores University, the study's principal investigator.

The experiences most frequently reported by respondents were parental divorce or the death of a parent, witnessing domestic violence, and emotional abuse.

According to the report, prolonged stress in early childhood, which can result from such experiences, disrupts brain development, weakens the ability to regulate emotions, and alters the functioning of the body's physiological stress-response systems.

Young people who reported four or more adverse childhood experiences were significantly more likely to experience physical pain or discomfort, face difficulties with everyday activities at work or school, have mobility limitations, and experience problems with self-care.

Among those who reported four or more such experiences, 76.3% said they had needed professional psychological support during the previous year, compared with 36.7% of those who had not experienced any of these events.

However, the authors warn that young people who experienced the greatest number of traumatic events were also more likely to report that they had not received the psychological support they felt they needed.