Citation

Perry NB, DePasquale CE, Fisher PH, Gunnar MR. Child Maltreat. 2019; 24(3): 235-243.

Affiliation

Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559518823074

PMID

30686060

Abstract

The current study compared behavioral and adrenocortical functioning of maltreated ( N = 91) and comparably aged (1.5-3 years) institutionally-reared children soon after (1.5-2.5 months) placement in foster care or adoptive homes, respectively. Foster and adoptive parents reported on the children's socioemotional competence and behavior problems, experimenters scored fear and positive affect to laboratory tasks, and diurnal cortisol measures were obtained. We sought to address whether these early contexts, characterized by different types of neglect and deprivation, have differential effects on young children's development. We found little support for the argument that either context results in uniformly poorer functioning soon after removal from adversity. Maltreated children were less fearful and more positive when exposed to both positive and novel events than institutionally-reared children. However, maltreated children were reported to have more behavior problems than did institutionally-reared children, and institutionally-reared children showed more typical declines in cortisol throughout the day than the maltreated children. These findings increase our ability to construct more targeted and effective interventions for these populations.

Language: en

Keywords

HPA functioning; adjustment; early life adversity; institutionalized; maltreatment