Long‐term follow‐up of women institutionalized in childhood: Factors promoting good functioning in adult life*

Abstract

The early adult functioning of 89 women from inner London who had been reared in residential Children's Homes was compared with that of 41 women sampled from the general population of the same area. The behaviour of both groups had previously been studied in middle childhood by means of standardized questionnaires. The adult assessment comprised detailed standardized interviews with the women and with their spouses, together with systematic observations of motherxhild interaction in the home for those with 2-34-year-old children. The adult outcome of the institution-reared women as a whole was substantially worse than that for the comparison group, but the course of their personality development had been greatly modified by positive school experiences in childhood and by the characteristics of their spouse and marriage in adult life. The institution-reared women in good psychosocial circumstances in adulthood functioned as well as the comparison group women. The findings are interpreted in terms of direct and indirect effects of experiences leading to both continuities and discontinuities in social development. IntroductionA good deal is known about the various genetic and experiential factors that put children at risk for deviant personality development and for disorders of psychosocial functioning (see Rutter & Madge, 1976; Rutter, 1981; Rutter & Giller, 1983). However, with risk factors of all kinds and of all severities it has been a near-universal finding that many children do not succumb. Indeed, it is quite difficult to find any combination of risk factors that gives rise to significant disorder or dysfunction in more than half of the children exposed. For many years there was little interest in this well-demonstrated phenomenon. Often, there was the implicit assumption that the disorder was simply covert, present under the surface waiting to be revealed. Alternatively, it was supposed that the children at risk who failed to develop disorder had somehow received a lesser 'dose' of the risk factor or that temperamentally they were 'tougher' characters.

Resilience Processes in Children with Leukemia: Developing a New Resilience Model

“…As important psychological traits commonly observed in resilience, 'future-oriented positive thoughts' , 'emotional adjustments' , and 'diverse interests' have been reported [28][29][30]. The {proactive preparedness} observed in the present study is similar to 'futureoriented positive thoughts' , and {coping} and {emotional adjustments} may correspond to 'emotional adjustments' [31].…”

Risco e proteção: em busca de um equilíbrio promotor de resiliência

“…Outro estudo longitudinal envolvendo crianças em situação de alto risco social observou que o desfecho positivo ou negativo na aquisição de competência deveu-se especialmente aos fatores de proteção (Rutter & Quinton, 1984). Conrad (1998), desenvolveu um estudo com crianças em situação de rua, filhas de mães com sintomas depressivos e surpreendeu-se ao verificar que 60 por cento dessas crianças não apresentaram em idades mais avançadas problemas de comportamento.…”

Prevención de la carencia afectiva crónica: nuevos paradigmas en el modelo de familia de acogida temporal

“…Estudios de seguimiento longitudinal con niños criados en instituciones, mostraron en su primer año de vida el desarrollo de un apego inseguro 19,20,21 , evolucionando con trastornos socio-emocionales y trastornos de la personalidad 22 . Asimismo, estudios de adultos con antecedentes de un período de institucionalización en sus primeros cinco años de vida, dan cuenta que se pone en riesgo el ajuste emocional y social del sujeto 23,24,25 .…”