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The neurobiological mechanisms by which childhood maltreatment heightens vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. It is likely that a complex interaction between environmental experiences (including poor caregiving) and an individual’s genetic make‐up influence neurobiological development across infancy and childhood, which in turn sets the stage for a child’s psychological and emotional development. This review provides a concise synopsis of those studies investigating the neurobiological and genetic factors associated with childhood maltreatment and adversity. We first provide an overview of the neuroendocrine findings, drawing from animal and human studies. These studies indicate an association between early adversity and atypical development of the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis stress response, which can predispose to psychiatric vulnerability in adulthood. We …