Foster Children: Risk Factors and Development at a Preschool Age

Early Child Development and Care

Cousin

Titran

2010

Transgenerational effects of alcohol on mothers' and children's intellectual functioning has been examined in 22 families from very deprived environments. Their psychosocial outcomes and IQ level were evaluated in a follow-up study on average seven years after they left the support group of a day-care centre for young children; school data were collected for the offspring. A decrease of 18 IQ points due to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) was observed in the two generations (mothers, children). Accumulation of alcohol problems in the families still predicted school failure, even in absence of FASD. The possible gain of IQ points due to the decreasing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy could help them have better school experiences. Providing appropriate ongoing supports would be an important and practical approach to improve the conditions of life of these families.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 51%

Two generations of maternal alcohol abuse: impact on cognitive levels in mothers and their children

Early Child Development and Care

Cousin

Titran

2010

“…PIQ may not have any such special window of time when environmental inputs make the most difference. 34 range where SD for an unrestricted range of IQ before adoption is 13.4 29 . *Difference between IQ mean before and after adoption; P levels are computed from t for dependent sample; † P Ͻ 0.05; ‡ P Ͻ 0.02; § P Ͻ 0.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of the 5,003 files of adopted children, 633 were adopted after age 4, 132 had an IQ of Ͻ90 in the year preceding adoption (29), and 67 had an IQ Ͼ60 and Ͻ86. These 67 children met all of the qualifying criteria mentioned above and were reported in institutional files to be without physical defect, chronic illness, or genetic disease.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How can we boost IQs of “dull children”?: A late adoption study

Duyme

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Tomkiewicz

1999

186

103

From 5,003 files of adopted children, 65 deprived children, defined as abused and͞or neglected during infancy, were strictly selected with particular reference to two criteria: (i) They were adopted between 4 and 6 years of age, and (ii) they had an IQ <86 (mean ‫؍‬ 77, SD ‫؍‬ 6.3) before adoption. The average IQs of adopted children in lower and higher socioeconomic status (SES) families were 85 (SD ‫؍‬ 17) and 98 (SD ‫؍‬ 14.6), respectively, at adolescence (mean age ‫؍‬ 13.5 years). The results show (i) a significant gain in IQ dependent on the SES of the adoptive families (mean ‫؍‬ 7.7 and mean ‫؍‬ 19.5 IQ points in low and high SES, respectively), (ii) IQs after adoption are significantly correlated with IQs before adoption, and (iii) during adolescence, verbal IQs are significantly lower than performance IQs.

“…We established a behavioural and emotional problem rate from the psychologists' diagnoses and/or from the thematic index (for detailed description of the index and validity of this score, see Dumaret et al, 1996Dumaret et al, , 1997.…”

Section: Definition Of Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discriminating Factors for Low or High IQ of Children in Care

Early Child Development and Care

Duyme²,

Tomkiewicz³

1998

Self Cite

Two groups of deprived children with contrasting IQs at a preschool age were compared: a low IQ group with IQs between 60 and 80 (LG, n = 49) and a high IQ group with IQs above 106 (HG, n = 42).The objective of the study was to identify discriminating major factors for cognitive development in a population of neglected children in care. They had been selected in a cohort of children who were adopted after the age of 4. A sub-sample was been studied longitudinally: 14 LG children and 11 HG children with two IQ assessments. Results have shown that forty per cent of these 91 children had emotional disorders and behavioural problems. No statistically significant differences were observed for environment and placement variables between LG and HG. Five variables differentiated the two groups: birth rank, maternal mental retardation, pregnancy and delivery complications, severe prematurity and/or low birth weight, and the number of hospitalisations. They explained 18.5% of the IQ variance at the preschool age. In the sub-sample of 25 children, an interaction between these two subgroups and IQ level was found (p< 0.001): IQs have increased in the HG subgroup but have remained stable in the LG subgroup. The first cognitive assessment was correlated with IQ at the preschool age. Maternal antecedents and birth risk factors are associated with IQ but the effects of severe neonatal factors on IQ are significantly decreasing with time. Childcare professionals need precise information during the infancy period on risk factors, health problems and maltreatment to organise intervention programs that might prevent subsequent adverse outcome. Further research should investigate the effects of risk factors on the cognitive and behavioural development of these children during adolescence after a total environmental change.