The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of early social deprivation in shaping the effectiveness of parent support to alleviate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis-stress responses of children (ages 8.9-11, M = 9.83 years, SD = 0.55). The sample was equally divided between children who had been adopted internationally from…

Associations between early deprivation and memory functioning were examined in 9- to 11-year-old children. Children who had experienced prolonged institutional care prior to adoption were compared to children who were adopted early from foster care and children reared in birth families. Measures included the Paired Associates Learning task from…

Background: Early childhood malnutrition is associated with cognitive and behavioral impairment during childhood and adolescence, but studies in adulthood are limited. Methods: Using the NEO-PI-R personality inventory, we compared personality profiles at 37-43 years of age ("M" 40.3 years, "SD" 1.9) of Barbadian adults who had…

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated sentence comprehension and spatial working memory abilities in a sample of internationally adopted, postinstitutionalized (PI) children. The authors compared the performance of these PI children with that of an age-matched group of children living with their birth families. They hypothesized that PI…

Background/Methods: Sensory processing capacities of 8-12-year-old internationally adopted (IA) children who experienced prolonged institutional care (greater than 12 months with 75% of pre-adoption lives in institutional care) prior to adoption into family environments (PI) were compared to a group of IA children who were adopted early (less than…

We examined inattention/overactivity (I/O) over time and in relation to caregiving in three matched groups: (1) Romanian Orphans (RO) with a minimum of eight months' deprivation prior to adoption, (2) Early Adopted (EA) children adopted from Romania prior to age four months, and (3) Canadian Born (CB) non-adopted children. Comparisons among groups…

Relatively little research has explored whether schools differ in their effectiveness for different group of pupils (e.g. by ethnicity, poverty or gender), for different curriculum subjects (e.g. English, mathematics or science) or over time (different cohorts). This paper uses multilevel modelling to analyse the national test results at age 7 and…

This article analyses the extent and persistence of child poverty in Portugal between 1995 and 2001. Data from the Portuguese component of the European Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) are used to estimate child poverty rates and children's flows in and out of poverty. The article focuses upon an analysis based on family income and on a set…

This article examined the impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform, based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Using a sample of 1,681 single mothers living in poverty, this study compared the effects of economic well-being and home environment scores on their children during pre- and post-Welfare Reform years. Following the 1996…

Background: Recent research on adults suggests that "beneficial" psychostimulant effects of caffeine are found only in the context of caffeine deprivation; that is, caffeine improves psychomotor and cognitive performance in habitual caffeine consumers following caffeine withdrawal. Furthermore, no net benefit is gained because…

Background: There is uncertainty about the extent to which language skills are part of general intelligence and even more uncertainty on whether deprivation has differential effects on language and non-language skills. Methods: Language and cognitive outcomes at 6 and 11 years of age were compared between a sample of 132 institution-reared…

Longitudinal analyses on normal versus impaired functioning across 7 domains were conducted in children who had experienced profound institutional deprivation up to the age of 42 months and were adopted from Romania into U.K. families. Comparisons were made with noninstitutionalized children adopted from Romania and with nondeprived within-U.K.…

Cognitive outcomes at age 11 of 131 Romanian adoptees from institutions were compared with 50 U.K. adopted children. Key findings were of both continuity and change: (1) marked adverse effects persisted at age 11 for many of the children who were over 6 months on arrival; (2) there was some catch-up between ages 6 and 11 for the bottom 15%; (3)…

An extended longitudinal study compared cognitive development in children adopted from Romania before 24 months and in United Kingdom adoptees with an additional sample of Romanian children adopted after 24 months. Findings indicated that there was considerable catch-up among late-placed Romanian children but they exhibited lower cognitive scores…

Examines the effects of persistent economic hardship on children. Both black and white children who experienced persistent family economic hardship demonstrated problems in peer relations, showed conduct problems at school, and reported low self-esteem. Connections between persistent economic hardship and psychosocial adjustment were more…