This brief summarizes the working paper, "The Science of Neglect: The Persistent Absence of Responsive Care Disrupts the Developing Brain," and explains why neglect, or the absence of responsive, supportive care, can affect the formation of the developing brain, impairing later learning, behavior, and health. The brief also includes…

Background: Previous reports from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project suggested that children removed from institutions and placed into intervention displayed gains in IQ relative to children randomized to remain in institutional care. Method: The current report presents data from the 8-year follow-up of these children. One hundred and three…

While effects of institutional care on behavioral development have been studied extensively, effects on neural systems underlying these socioemotional and attention deficits are only beginning to be examined. The current study assessed electroencephalogram (EEG) power in 18-month-old internationally adopted, postinstitutionalized children (n = 37)…

This article focuses on the links between family income, deprivation as reported by parents and deprivation as experienced by children. Data are drawn from a survey of Norwegian families, in which low-income families are oversampled. Three areas of deprivation are explored: housing, consumption and subjective experiences. In each area, indicators…

Examined the family backgrounds, health and developmental characteristics of 127 children from disadvantaged and deprived environments adopted after age 4. Found that parental psychosocial antecedents, medical and health problems and difficulties in infancy were more prevalent in this group than in the general population. Late age of placement,…

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)