ABSTRACT
Seventy-eight postinstitutionalized (PI) children adopted at ages 17-36 months were assessed 2, 8, 16, and 24 months postadoption on measures of cortisol and parenting quality, and compared to same-aged children adopted from foster care (FC, n = 45) and nonadopted children (NA, n = 45). In kindergarten (Mage = 6.0 years), teachers, parents, and trained observers completed measures of peer relationships and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. PI children had more peer problems and ADHD symptoms according to teachers and observers than NA children with FC children in between, whereas both PI and FC children were at significantly greater risk of hypocortisolism (i.e., blunted cortisol diurnal rhythm and reactivity). Hypocortisolism and ADHD symptoms mediated the association between preadoption adversity and peer difficulties. Higher postadoption parenting quality was protective.
Subject(s)
Adoption/psychology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Child, Adopted/psychology , Parenting/psychology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Hydrocortisone/metabolism , Infant , Interpersonal Relations , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Parents , Peer Group , Prospective Studies , Schools/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
Chronic parental maltreatment has been associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, and depriving environments have been shown to predict short-sighted, risk-averse decision-making. The present study examined whether a circumscribed period of adverse care occurring only early in life was associated with biases in trust behavior. Fifty-three post-institutionalized (PI) youth, adopted internationally on average by 1 year of age, and 33 never-institutionalized, non-adopted youth (Mage = 12.9 years) played a trust game. Participants decided whether or not to share coins with a different anonymous peer in each trial with the potential to receive a larger number of coins in return. Trials were presented in blocks that varied in the degree to which the peers behaved in a trustworthy (reciprocal) or untrustworthy (non-reciprocal) manner. A comparison condition consisted of a computerized lottery with the same choices and probabilistic risk as the peer trials. Non-adopted comparison youth showed a tendency to share more with peers than to invest in the lottery and tended to maintain their level of sharing across trials despite experiencing trials in which peers failed to reciprocate. In contrast, PI children, particularly those who were adopted over 1 year of age, shared less with peers than they invested in the lottery and quickly adapted their sharing behavior to peers' responses. These results suggest that PI youth were more mistrusting, more sensitive to both defection and reciprocation, and potentially more accurate in their trusting decisions than comparison youth. Results support the presence of a sensitive period for the development of trust in others, whereby conditions early in life may set long-term biases in decision-making.
Subject(s)
Child Development , Child, Adopted/psychology , Child, Institutionalized/psychology , Decision Making , Social Behavior , Trust , Adolescent , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child Behavior , Humans , Interpersonal RelationsABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine whether FKBP5 rs1360780 moderates relations between different forms of life stress/adversity (early institutional rearing and peer victimization) and depressive symptoms in adolescents. As reported previously, PI youth were at risk for being victimized by peers. Here, victimization was associated with elevated depressive symptoms. While FKBP5 did not moderate the association between early life adversity and depressive symptoms for either sex, it moderated the association between current adversity and depressive symptoms for victimized girls carrying the minor allele. Consistent with a differential susceptibility model, girls with the minor allele exhibited more depressive symptoms at higher levels of victimization, but fewer depressive symptoms at lower levels of victimization. Interestingly, boys with the CC genotype had higher rates of depressive symptoms compared to girls with the CC genotype in the context of heightened victimization.
Subject(s)
Bullying/psychology , Child, Institutionalized/psychology , Crime Victims , Depression/genetics , Stress, Psychological/genetics , Tacrolimus Binding Proteins/genetics , Adolescent , Alleles , Child , Depression/psychology , Female , Gene-Environment Interaction , Genotype , Humans , Male , Peer Group , Sex Factors , Stress, Psychological/psychologyABSTRACT
The present longitudinal investigation examined borderline personality features as a predictor of aggression 1 year later. Moderation by physiological reactivity and gender was also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol in which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships or exclusion) were assessed. Teachers provided reports on subtypes of aggressive behavior (i.e., reactive relational, proactive relational, reactive physical, and proactive physical), and children completed a self-report measure of borderline personality features. Path analyses indicated that borderline personality features predicted increases in reactive relational aggression and proactive relational aggression among girls who evinced heightened physiological reactivity to interpersonal stress. In contrast, borderline personality features predicted decreases in proactive physical aggression in girls. Findings suggest that borderline personality features promote engagement in relationally aggressive behaviors among girls, particularly in the context of emotional dysregulation.
