Background: Some young children reared in profoundly depriving institutions have been found to show autistic-like patterns, but the developmental significance of these features is unknown. Methods: A randomly selected, age-stratified, sample of 144 children who had experienced an institutional upbringing in Romania and who were adopted by UK…

Thirty-two preadolescents were observed in a longitudinal study of attachment and subsequent social development, and case studies of four friendship pairs were conducted. Findings suggest a process model of friendship formation based on repetition of infant attachment history in establishing children's preadolescent friendships. Proposes a 3-stage…