dezavantaje la dezvoltare Flashcards
Isolated and confined children
Feral children - no human contact or nurture
Victor discovered in a forest in 1800
Lived with wolves
Genie: imprisoned in a dark room and abused between the ages of 20m and 13y
Experiencing physical developmental delays
Fine motor skills were at a level of 2yo
She never caught up so sensitive period of development
Institutionalised children
Children in a care setting
Large number of children and little number of carers
Risk factors
Low living standards
Substandard nutrition
High child to caregiver ration
Poorly trained caregivers who may have insensitive or be unresponsive to children
Inadequate cognitive, linguistic and sensory stimulation
Romanian orphan studies background
Contraception and abortions were illegal
100,000 children in such institutions
In 1989 many children adopted
Natural experiment: investigate the consequences of deprivation
English and Romanian adoptees
Compared four groups
Adopted from rom before 6m
Adopted from Rom between 6m and 24m
Adopted from rom between 24m and 43m
Adopted from UK before 6m
Romanian groups had lower cognitive abilities, more attachment problems, inattention, overactivity, emotional difficulties, autistic features, cognitive impairment, peer difficulties, conduct problems
But there were differences across groups and individual differences
what was the effect of longer stay in institutions
The longer these children have been in institutionalised care, the more social and cognitive facets were impaired
At 4-6 years
Children arriving before 6m were similar to UK adoptees
6-24m were more affected
Over24m were severely impaired
Children in all groups demonstrated significant catch up after adoption, BUT the effect of deprivation still persisted at age 11 for children who spent more than 6m in the institution
What are limitations
Maybe some orphanages weren’t as bad as others
Maybe some already had developmental issues and that’s why they were given for adoption
Bucharest early intervention project
Randomised into different environments
3 groups
Children placed in institutions at birth who still live in institutions
Children placed in institutions at birth who now live in foster care
Children living with their biological families in Bucharest
Positives: randomised which are in care and which in institutions and in country comparison
Negatives: is it ethical to say some of these children stay in institutions if you know the conditions are bad
Findings of bucharest
Children placed in foster care made significant cognitive, social and emotional gains
Both children in institutions and children in foster care performed below children raised in their biological families
For brain activity and attachment children who were placed in foster care before 24m had better outcomes
The effect of deprivation on brain development
Romanian adoptees showed reduced brain metabolism in prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe and regions associated with higher cognitive functions
In comparison with a non institutionalised group, Romanian adoptees showed reduced amplitude in ERP components when presented with facial expressions - less neural activation
So institutionalisation reduces cortical brain activity
What is the interaction between genes and environment
Postnatal brain development is driven by gene x environment interaction
Genes provide early specification of structures and circuits, experience provides specialisation and fine tuning
Normal development requires certain experiences during a sensitive period - responsive caregiver
Lack of environmental input - misfiring of circuits
individual differences
G x E: effect of exposure to environmental adversity is moderated by genes - so the effect of institutionalisation is affected by genes
gene that encodes 5HTT - serotonin transporter protein
Short allele associated with lower capacity of the protein than the long allele
In the Romanian studies, there was a difference in the prevalence of 2 alleles for this gene which has something to do with later development
Problem with candidate gene studies. Effects are often poorly replicated.
what did they found about genes of children from ERA sample
studies genotype of children from the ERA sample between the ages of 11 and 15
relationship between severe deprivation in early life and development of emotional difficulties in adolescence which was moderated by 5HTT
Short allele carriers had more emotional problems at both 11 and 15
children and social disadvantage
low SES children typically perform worse in school and have worse employment prospects
poverty is also associated with behavioural problems, adjustment difficulties and difficult peer relations
in 2014 there were 37% of disadvantages children achieving 5 or more A*-C at GCSE compared to 64% of all other children
racial prejudice and discrimination
18% of asian and 20% of african caribbean pupils report having been victims of racial abuse
perceived racial discrimination leads to low self-esteem, peer rejection amongst ethnic minority adolescence
developemntal disorders
exposure to risk factors such as poverty, abuse, victimisation and neglect are all associated with psychopathology
often results in disruptive behaviour in school - interrupts teaching and learning
Conduct disorder
DSM 5: A repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others or major appropriate societal norms or rules are violated
Aggression to people and animals
Deceitfulness or theft
Most common psychiatric disorder in childhood 9.5% in US
child maltreatment and psychopathology
the relationship between child maltreatment and externalising symptoms (such as conduct disorder) is mediated by emotion regulation
If a child is experiencing child maltreatment - that is association with low emotion regulation - that leads to externalising symptoms - which then leads to peer rejection
Peer rejection is both a cause and a consequence of externalising symptoms
trauma and emotion regulation
lower emotion regulation in children with adverse life experiences linked to the HPA system
When HPA system is activated, it leads to release of cortisol, a stress hormone, which helps the body cope with stressors. However, repeated exposures to stress can dysregulate the HPA system, leading to alterations in cortisol levels and potentially affecting emotional regulation.
In newborns, mildly stressful experiences increase cortisol - but responsiveness of the HPA system decreases gradually through environment - sensitive caregiver providing nurturing
Sensitive caregiving and attachment security mediate HPA responsiveness
Deprivation of evolutionarily expected levels of care is associated with dysregulation of HPA system
emotion recognition and maltreamtnet study
3-5 yo olds ability to match facial displays to emotional context
e.g. Johnny couldn’t play with his friend anymore. Which facial expression is he most likely to display - sad or happy?
3 groups of children
1. children who experienced neglect
2. children who experienced physical abuse
3. non-maltreated children
emotion recognition and maltreatment findings
Compared with non-maltreated and physically abused children, neglected children showed impaired discrimination of emotional expressions.
Neglected children were less able to distinguish between happy and sad expressions than the other group
Neglected children showed a response bias for sad faces
Physically abused children displayed a response bias for angry facial expressions
Maltreated children’s difficulties with emotion recognition may make it more difficult for these children to effectively recognise and appropriately respond to social signals
protective facotrs
from ecological systems theory
microsystem - closely related to child - parents
mesosystem - interactions - school - if child lacks in microsystem, they will seek out emotional connectivity from people within the mesosystem - teachers
family support moderates the effects of displacement and trauma - having a strong microsystem
seeking out surrogate parents from mesosystem- moderates adverse early life experiences from microsystem
community groups moderate the impact of school exclusion
Sure Start
education programme targeted in areas with high concentrations of 4yo living in poverty
aimed to overcome the cycle of disadvantage faced by poor families
improving children’s health and social-emotional development
also providing support for parents
national evaluation of sure start
+more positive parents practices reported in sure start areas
+children from relatively less disadvantaged families showed fewer behaviour problems and more social competence
-families from disadvantaged areas were adversely affected by living in a sure start community
-families did not rate it better than other services
why are the disadvantaged families having negative response
parents in the most disadvantaged families might have a reluctance
Deficit model: children’s social and academic difficulties are a result of inadequate care at home - feels like you are blaming the parent
Difference model: not that parent is doing something wrong, but something that is having an impact - advocate for better understanding of different people’s values, attitudes and behaviours in disadvantaged communities
By focusing on the entire family, these interventions become more effective - rather than focusing on the child
