Behavior Problems in Children Adopted from Psychosocially Depriving Institutions
Open accessAbstract
Behavior problems were investigated in 342 6- to 18-year-old children adopted from psychosocially depriving Russian institutions that provided adequate physical resources but not consistent, responsive caregiving. Results indicated that attention and externalizing problems were the most prevalent types of behavior problems in the sample as a whole. Behavior problem rates increased with age at adoption, such that children adopted at 18 months or older had higher rates than never-institutionalized children but younger-adopted children did not. There was a stronger association between age at adoption and behavior problems during adolescence than at younger ages at assessment. Children adopted from psychosocially depriving institutions had lower behavior problem rates than children adopted from severely depriving Romanian institutions in the 1990s. The implications of these results are that early psychosocial deprivation is associated with behavior problems, children exposed to prolonged early deprivation may be especially vulnerable to the developmental stresses of adolescence, and severe institutional deprivation is associated with a higher percentage of behavior problems after a shorter duration of exposure.
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This post-institutionalized sample also had lower levels of parent-reported behavior and executive function difficulties than post-institutionalized children adopted from globally depriving institutions after accounting for age at adoption.
“This PI sample also had lower levels of parent-reported behavior and executive function difficulties than PI children adopted from globally depriving institutions after accounting for age at adoption (Merz & McCall, 2010; Merz, McCall, & Groza, in press).”
From Inhibitory control and working memory in post-institutionalized children (2013) · cites this paper as Merz & McCall, 2010
Studies of children adopted from less severely depriving institutions have suggested a step-function at older ages of adoption, such as after 18-24 months.
“Studies of children adopted from less severely depriving institutions have suggested a step-function at older ages of adoption, such as after 18–24 months (Gunnar et al., 2007; Merz & McCall, 2010; Nelson et al., 2007).”
From Inhibitory control and working memory in post-institutionalized children (2013) · cites this paper as Merz & McCall, 2010
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References 49 · Cited by 208
- Authors
- Merz, E. C., & McCall, R. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Corresponding author
- Merz, Emily C.
- Venue
- Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
- Published
- 2010-01-19
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 459-470
- ISSN
- 0091-0627 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2835
- PMC
- PMC2892211
- OpenAlex
- W1998233814
- Cited by
- 208
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 33.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Minnesota Department of Human Services
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD039017, R01HD050212, HD39017, HD050212)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- institutionalized children, psychosocial deprivation, adoption, behavioral problems, attention deficits, externalizing problems, age at adoption, adolescence, early deprivation, developmental vulnerability
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adoption, Age Factors, Attention, Child, Child Behavior Disorders, Child Development, Child, Institutionalized, Child, Preschool, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Infant, Internal-External Control, Male, Psychosocial Deprivation, Russia, Social Environment, Prevalence
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