Infants in an orphanage who live in an underprivileged environment show delayed gross motor development; however longitudinal investigations of gross motor development in orphaned infants are limited. This study aimed to assess the variability of gross motor development of orphaned infants using a longitudinal observation. The gross motor…

Objective: To summarize the advantages and limitations of general population, high-risk and "natural experiment" longitudinal studies for studying psychological change. The English and Romanian Adoptees study is used as an example of a "natural experiment," and detailed findings are provided. Method: What is new is a focus on the young people who…

Associations between early deprivation and memory functioning were examined in 9- to 11-year-old children. Children who had experienced prolonged institutional care prior to adoption were compared to children who were adopted early from foster care and children reared in birth families. Measures included the Paired Associates Learning task from…

Severe deprivation in the first few years of life is associated with multiple difficulties in cognition and behavior. However, the brain basis for these difficulties is poorly understood. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies have implicated limbic system structures as dysfunctional, and one functional imaging study in a heterogeneous…

There is an abundance of evidence showing relatively strong associations between family characteristics and a child's psychological functioning--both within the normal range and, also, with reference to psychopathology. That has sometimes led to the assumption that equally strong associations should be found within adoptive families. Nevertheless,…

Whereas metaanalyses of cross-sectional adoption studies have indicated that there is an impact of early deprivation on adoptee's cognitive ability, these effects generally diminish markedly after upbringing in adoptive homes. Outcomes in terms of scholastic attainment were not quite so positive in a cross-sectional metaanalysis, but the Swedish…

This monograph is concerned with the mid adolescent follow-up of a group of adoptees from Romania and from within the United Kingdom who were first assessed at the age of 4 years (or 6 years in the case of the oldest children). After describing the structure of this monograph, this chapter provides the background as it applied at the time that the…

It has come to be generally accepted that the psychopathological effects of psychosocial stress and adversity are diagnostically nonspecific. There is a good deal of supporting evidence in support of this assumption, even though it may be that the nonspecificity has been exaggerated through a failure to take account of comorbidity. This chapter…

The authors' previous work and the data reported in the preceding chapters of this monograph provide conclusive evidence of the persistent nature of the negative impact of early severe deprivation. Institutional deprivation, despite the good outcomes for many, was often associated with substantial impairment and disorder across a wide range of…

This monograph is concerned with the mid adolescent follow-up of a group of adoptees from Romania and from within the United Kingdom who were first assessed at the age of 4 years (or 6 years in the case of the oldest children). Chapter I provides the background as it applied at the time that the study began, and then goes on to outline the overall…

This chapter covers the methods and measures used in the ERA study, with a special focus on age 15 outcomes. First, the authors outline the sample participation rate for the 15-year follow-up--the percentages in all cases referring to the numbers at the time of initial sample contact. They then describe the measures used in this monograph,…

The adoption into the UK of children who have been reared in severely deprived conditions provides an opportunity to study possible association between very early negative experiences and subsequent brain development. This cross-sectional study was a pilot for a planned larger study quantifying the effects of early deprivation on later brain…

In chapter IV, the authors focused on their findings on the developmental course of deprivation-specific psychological patterns (DSPs). The authors rediscussed the syndrome concept in the light of two main considerations. First, the findings indicated substantial overlap among the four postulated DSPs at 15 years including CI and I/O before…

Two general explanatory models have been proposed to account for the emergence and quality of the inmate subculture. The deprivation model focuses upon the notion that correctional institutions are based upon coercion and that the institutional experience degrades and deprives the inmate. The inmates' adaptive response to these…

A case study of a pair of extremely deprived twin boys focuses on their verbal communication. Talkativeness alone was not regarded as a measure of intelligence, but attention was paid to the less talkative twin's greater use of imaginative speech. Speculations are made on the evolutionary role of creative speech. (IS)