scholarly journals Effects of early intervention on EEG power and coherence in previously institutionalized children in Romania

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 861-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Marshall ◽  
Bethany C. Reeb ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles A. Nelson ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Care Group ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Eeg Coherence ◽  
Institutionalized Children ◽  
Eeg Power ◽  
Foster Care Placement

AbstractTwo groups of Romanian children were compared on spectral power and coherence in the electroencephalogram (EEG) in early childhood. One group consisted of previously institutionalized children who had been randomly assigned to a foster care intervention at a mean age of 23 months. The second group had been randomized to remain in institutional care. Because of a policy of noninterference, a number of these children also experienced placement into alternative family care environments. There were minimal group differences between the foster care and institutionalized groups in EEG power and coherence across all measured frequency bands at 42 months of age. However, age at foster care placement within the foster care group was correlated with certain measures of EEG power and coherence. Earlier age at foster care placement was associated with increased alpha power and decreased short-distance EEG coherence. Further analyses separating age at placement from duration of intervention suggest that this effect may be more robust for EEG coherence than EEG band power. Supplementary analyses examined whether the EEG measures mediated changes in intellectual abilities within the foster care children, but no clear evidence of mediation was observed.

scholarly journals The prospective association between stressful life events and inflammation among adolescents with a history of early institutional rearing

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1715-1724
Author(s):  
Alva Tang ◽  
Mark Wade ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles A. Nelson ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Institutionalized Children ◽  
Reactive Protein ◽  
History Of ◽  
Prospective Association

AbstractEarly adversity has been shown to sensitize individuals to the effects of later stress and enhance risk of psychopathology. Using a longitudinal randomized trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care, we extend the stress sensitization hypothesis to examine whether early institutional rearing sensitizes individuals to stressful events in adolescence engendering chronic low-grade inflammation. At baseline, institutionalized children in Romania (ages 6–31 months) were randomly assigned to foster care or to remain in usual care within institutions. A group of never-institutionalized children was recruited as an in-country comparison sample. At ages 12 and 16, participants reported stressful events. At age 16, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were derived from blood spots. Among children assigned to care as usual, more stressful events at age 12, but not age 16, were associated with higher IL-6. In the same group, stressful events at age 16 were associated with higher CRP, though these effects attenuated after adjusting for covariates. These associations were not observed in the foster care or never-institutionalized groups. The findings suggest that heightened inflammation following stress exposure is one pathway through which early neglect could compromise physical health. In contrast, early family care might buffer against these risks.

scholarly journals Growth in Self-Regulation Over the Course of Adolescence Mediates the Effects of Foster Care on Psychopathology in Previously Institutionalized Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262199388
Author(s):  
Cora E. Mukerji ◽  
Mark Wade ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah ◽  
Charles A. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Care Group ◽  
Social And Emotional Development ◽  
General Psychopathology ◽  
Institutionalized Children ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Peer Difficulties ◽  
The Impact

Children reared in institutions experience severe psychosocial deprivation, resulting in lasting consequences for social and emotional development. This study evaluated growth trajectories of self-regulation from ages 8 to 16 among previously institutionalized children randomized to foster care (foster-care group; FCG) or to remain in institutional care (care-as-usual group; CAUG) compared with a never-institutionalized group (NIG). We then tested a developmental pathway by which growth in self-regulation reduces general psychopathology at age 16 for the FCG relative to the CAUG. The FCG experienced modest growth in self-regulation over adolescence and “caught up” to the NIG by age 16. The beneficial effect of foster care on psychopathology operated through growth in self-regulation; part of this effect was further mediated by reduced peer difficulties for the FCG. Findings reveal that the effects of foster care on self-regulation emerge over adolescence and that growth in self-regulation is a mechanism by which foster care mitigates the impact of institutionalization on psychopathology.

scholarly journals Serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotype moderates the longitudinal impact of early caregiving on externalizing behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoë H. Brett ◽  
Kathryn L. Humphreys ◽  
Anna T. Smyke ◽  
Mary Margaret Gleason ◽  
Charles A. Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Serotonin Transporter ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Care Group ◽  
Longitudinal Impact ◽  
Polymorphic Region

AbstractWe examined caregiver report of externalizing behavior from 12 to 54 months of age in 102 children randomized to care as usual in institutions or to newly created high-quality foster care. At baseline no differences by group or genotype in externalizing were found. However, changes in externalizing from baseline to 42 months of age were moderated by the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region genotype and intervention group, where the slope for short–short (S/S) individuals differed as a function of intervention group. The slope for individuals carrying the long allele did not significantly differ between groups. At 54 months of age, S/S children in the foster care group had the lowest levels of externalizing behavior, while children with the S/S genotype in the care as usual group demonstrated the highest rates of externalizing behavior. No intervention group differences were found in externalizing behavior among children who carried the long allele. These findings, within a randomized controlled trial of foster care compared to continued care as usual, indicate that the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region genotype moderates the relation between early caregiving environments to predict externalizing behavior in children exposed to early institutional care in a manner most consistent with differential susceptibility.

scholarly journals Long-term effects of institutional rearing, foster care, and brain activity on memory and executive functioning

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (5) ◽  
pp. 1808-1813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wade ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah ◽  
Charles A. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Institutionalized Children ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Visual Spatial

Children experiencing psychosocial deprivation as a result of early institutional rearing demonstrate many difficulties with memory and executive functioning (EF). To date, there is scant evidence that foster care placement remediates these difficulties during childhood. The current study examined longitudinal trajectories of memory and EF from childhood to adolescence in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care for institutionally reared children. We demonstrate that both ever- and never-institutionalized children show age-related improvements on several measures of memory and EF from age 8 to 16. Distinct patterns were observed for different domains of functioning: (i) Early-emerging disparities in attention and short-term visual memory, as well as spatial planning and problem solving, between ever- and never-institutionalized children persisted through adolescence; (ii) the gap in spatial working memory between ever- and never-institutionalized children widened by adolescence; and (iii) early difficulties in visual-spatial memory and new learning among children in foster care were mitigated by adolescence. Secondary analyses showed that higher resting EEG alpha power at age 8 predicted better EF outcomes in several domains at age 8, 12, and 16. These results suggest that early institutional rearing has enduring consequences for the development of memory and EF, with the possibility of catch-up among previously institutionalized children who start out with higher levels of problems. Finally, interindividual differences in brain activity relate to memory and EF across ages, thus highlighting one potential biological pathway through which early neglect impacts long-term cognitive functioning.

scholarly journals Environmental determinants of physiological reactivity to stress: The interacting effects of early life deprivation, caregiving quality, and stressful life events

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1732-1742
Author(s):  
Mark Wade ◽  
Margaret A. Sheridan ◽  
Charles H. Zeanah ◽  
Nathan A. Fox ◽  
Charles A. Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Stressful Life ◽  
Institutionalized Children ◽  
Caregiving Quality

AbstractChildren who spend their early lives in institutions experience profound psychosocial deprivation that is associated with altered stress response system development. Here, we used data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of foster care for institutionally reared children to examine whether caregiving quality and stressful life events (SLEs) in early adolescence (age 12) influence patterns of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity. Controlling for the effect of institutional care, higher caregiving quality at age 12 was associated with heightened cortisol and SNS reactivity. However, moderation analysis revealed that the latter effect was only observed among never-institutionalized children, whereas ever-institutionalized children demonstrated a persistently blunted SNS response regardless of recent caregiving quality. Among institutionally reared children, SLEs interacted with prior random assignment to foster care, such that those placed in foster care early in development had a SNS response that approximated never-institutionalized children when SLEs at age 12 were low. In contrast, SNS reactivity was persistently blunted among those with prolonged deprivation, regardless of recent SLEs. Early-life deprivation is associated with persistent blunting of stress response systems, but normalization may be achievable if SLEs are limited following placement into enriched family-based care.

Care of Elderly Germans Suffering from Dementia and other Diseases in Private Social Welfare Institutions in Poland — A Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-85
Author(s):  
Nicole Horáková ◽  
Jan Kajfosz
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Field Research ◽  
High Standard ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Private Care ◽  
The Social ◽  
Care Of Elderly

The European society is getting older and nobody knows how to deal with this problem. There are different models from family care, special housing for elderly to professional institutional care, which has the disadvantage of being very expensive. In Germany we have noticed in the last two or three years a special trend to send old people suffering from dementia to foreign countries, because these people need intensive care and the social services for example in Poland have a high standard. The aim of our survey is to dismantle, by the example of the private care institution situated in Poland, Upper Silesia which specializes on German customers, the social practices associated with placing the elderly in such institutions and also the methods of constructing meanings of these practices providing clarity in the various groups that take part in this process. To reach this aim we used qualitative field research, including discourse and narrative analysis of various materials (interviews, promotional texts, websites), which beside other things allowed us to reconstruct the media image of the surveyed residences for the elderly and show it in a wider context.

scholarly journals EEG Measures of Value-Directed Strategic Processing in Older Adults With and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 292-293
Author(s):  
Lydia Nguyen ◽  
Shraddha Shende ◽  
Daniel Llano ◽  
Raksha Mudar
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Strategic Processing ◽  
Unique Word

Abstract Value-directed strategic processing is important for daily functioning. It allows selective processing of important information and inhibition of irrelevant information. This ability is relatively preserved in normal cognitive aging, but it is unclear if mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects strategic processing and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. The current study examined behavioral and EEG spectral power differences between 16 cognitively normal older adults (CNOA; mean age: 74.5 ± 4.0 years) and 16 individuals with MCI (mean age: 77.1 ± 4.3 years) linked to a value-directed strategic processing task. The task used five unique word lists where words were assigned high- or low-value based on letter case and were presented sequentially while EEG was recorded. Participants were instructed to recall as many words as possible after each list to maximize their score. Results revealed no group differences in recall of low-value words, but individuals with MCI recalled significantly fewer high-value words and total number of words relative to CNOA. Group differences were observed in theta and alpha bands for low-value words, with greater synchronized theta power for CNOA than MCI and greater desynchronized alpha power for MCI than CNOA. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that more effortful neural processing of low-value words in the MCI group, relative to the CNOA group, allowed them to match their behavioral performance to the CNOA group. Individuals with MCI appear to utilize more cognitive resources to inhibit low-value information and might show memory-related benefits if taught strategies to focus on high-value information processing.

scholarly journals Economic Incentives and Foster Care Placement

2007 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-142
Author(s):  
Brian Duncan ◽  
Laura Argys
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Foster Care Placement
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