Child-to-adult neurodevelopmental and mental health trajectories after early life deprivation: the young adult follow-up of the longitudinal English and Romanian Adoptees study

Abstract

Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Jacobs Foundation, Nuffield Foundation.

Annual Research Review: Rethinking childhood trauma‐new research directions for measurement, study design and analytical strategies

“…On the other hand, there are two intervention studies. Investigations of institutionalised Romanian children showed that even cognitive deficits resulting from extreme levels of deprivation do not necessarily reflect permanent brain damage but can be remediated by subsequent intervention, such as foster care (Nelson et al, ) or adoption (Sonuga‐Barke et al, ). Neither set of studies, therefore, supports the idea that childhood trauma typically exerts detrimental, long‐term effects on cognition.…”

The key role of positive parenting and children’s temperament in post‐institutionalized children’s socio‐emotional adjustment after adoption placement. A RCT study

“…Going further by exploring the variables of interest we found that an increase in parental emotional availability in caregiving is among the main factor affecting children’s socio‐emotional enhancement after intervention attendance completion. This is a very encouraging result to be highlighted for post‐institutionalized children and their families, given their only partial socio‐emotional catch‐up after adoption placement (Bakermans‐Kranenburg et al, ; Humphreys et al, ; Sonuga‐Barke et al, ). Moreover, child’s temperamental negative affect played a role in refining the results just mentioned; children high in negative affect were those who benefitted the most from an increase in maternal emotional availability, showing a greater reduction of externalizing behavioral problems than their peers low in negative affect.…”

“…Although meta‐analytic evidence indicates that adopted post‐institutionalized children show less insecure and disorganized attachment than their peers left behind in institutions (Lionetti, Pastore, & Barone, ), their recovery is yet not always complete, with more impaired abilities often persisting after the adoption placement (Juffer & van IJzendoorn, ). Specifically, several studies have reported rapid improvement after family placement in children’s physical parameters for example, weight, height and cranial circumference, paired with an impressive, albeit incomplete, socio‐emotional recovery (Bakermans‐Kranenburg et al, ; Humphreys, Nelson, Fox, & Zeanah, ; Sonuga‐Barke et al, ). What might account for this recovery in the socio‐emotional domain is an unsolved issue, calling for further understanding.…”

Autistic social behaviors and the half‐empty, half‐full cup

“…Furthermore, the condition was not seen in children who were adopted before the age of 6 months. A substantial number of affected children continued to show signs of autism spectrum disorder into adulthood (Sonuga‐Barke et al., ). These results parallel those from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), in which social communication abnormalities were significantly higher in children who were removed from institutions and placed in families than those who experienced more prolonged institutional rearing (Levin, Zeanah, Fox, & Nelson, ).…”