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This study examined longitudinal data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care following exposure to severe psychosocial deprivation. The authors report data from 135 participants assessed in early adulthood (age 18 y). They found that 16 years after randomization occurred, those who had been randomized to high-quality foster care had significantly higher IQ scores (9 points, 0.6 SD) than those randomized to care as usual.
Mediation analyses provide evidence that the causal effect of the intervention…
Abstract
Background: Institutional deprivation in early childhood is associated with neuropsychological deficits in adolescence. Using 20-year follow-up data from a unique natural experiment – the large scale adoption of children exposed to extreme deprivation in Romanian institutions in the 1980s – we examined, for the first time, whether such deficits are still present in adulthood and whether they are associated with deprivation-related symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Methods: Adult neuropsychological functioning was…
Abstract
Childhood adversity may sensitize certain individuals to later stress which triggers or amplifies psychopathology. The current study uses data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial to examine whether severe early neglect among children reared in institutions increases vulnerability to the effects of later stressful life events on externalizing problems in adolescence, and whether social enrichment in the form of high-quality foster care buffers this risk. Children abandoned to Romanian institutions were randomly assigned to a foster care intervention or care-as-usual…
Abstract
Background
Children reared in institutions experience profound deprivation that is associated with both heightened levels of psychopathology and deficits in executive functioning (EF). It is unclear whether deficits in EF among institutionally-reared children serve as a vulnerability factor that increases risk for later psychopathology. It is also unclear whether this putative association between EF and psychopathology is transdiagnostic (i.e. cuts across domains of psychopathology), or specific to a given syndrome. Thus, we examined whether global deficits in EF mediate the…
Abstract
This article explores how the type of placement in children's social care influences identity formation and contact with the birth family. It draws on 40 life history interviews with Romanian-born, care experienced young people who entered adulthood from different types of placement: 16 from residential care, eight from foster care, seven from domestic adoption and nine from intercountry adoption. The article contributes to an understanding of how residential care, foster care, domestic adoption and intercountry adoption affect identity formation and contact with the birth family…
Abstract
Exposure to early psychosocial deprivation as a result of institutional care disrupts typical brain development. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) is the first longitudinal study to investigate the neurodevelopment of institutionalized infants randomized to a foster care (FCG) intervention versus care as usual (CAUG). Here, we present findings from a follow‐up assessment of brain electrical activity as indexed by resting EEG at age 16 years. In addition, we examined the effects of disruption of foster care placement, (e.g. the number of moves among foster care…
Abstract
Psychosocial deprivation is associated with the development of socially aberrant behaviors, including signs of disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED). In longitudinal studies, signs of DSED have been shown to decrease over time, especially as children are removed from conditions of deprivation. What is less clear is whether signs of DSED in early childhood are associated with poorer functioning in early adolescence, including among children who no longer manifest signs of DSED at this age. In a sample of 136 Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (…
Abstract
Objective
Telomere length has been linked to several psychiatric conditions in children and adults. Telomere shortening is accelerated by early adversity, including maltreatment and psychosocial deprivation. These experiences also increase the risk of psychopathology in many domains. Two fundamental issues remain unresolved. The first concerns the specificity of the relations between TL and different dimensions of psychopathology; and the second relates to the direction of association between TL and psychopathology.
Method
This study addresses these shortcomings in a two-…
Abstract
Experience plays an essential role in building brain architecture after birth. The question we address in this paper is what happens to brain and behavior when a young child is deprived of key experiences during critical periods of brain development. We focus in particular on the consequences of institutional rearing, with implication for the tens of millions of children around the world who from an early age experience profound psychosocial deprivation. Evidence is clear that deprivation can lead to a host of both short- and long-term consequences, including perturbations in…
Significance
UNICEF estimates that there are approximately 8 million children worldwide who live in institutions. Institutional rearing often involves severe psychosocial neglect associated with suboptimal brain and behavioral development. This study uses data from the only existing longitudinal RCT of foster care for institutionally reared children to examine trajectories of memory and executive functioning from childhood to adolescence. We show that institutional rearing is associated with persistent problems in certain functional domains, and developmental stagnancy in others, across…