ERIC Number: EJ1481758
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-755X
EISSN: EISSN-1467-7687
Available Date: 2025-07-03
Caregiving Quality and Adolescent Cortical Structure: A 16-Year Longitudinal Study of Institutionally Reared Youth
Lucy A. Lurie1; Meredith A. Gruhn2; Kathryn Garrisi1; Katie A. McLaughlin3,4; Kathryn L. Humphreys5; Charles H. Zeanah6; Nathan A. Fox7; Charles A. Nelson8,9,10; Margaret A. Sheridan1
Developmental Science, v28 n5 e70043 2025
Severe psychosocial deprivation in early childhood experienced by institutionally reared children changes the course of structural brain development. Evidence from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) has demonstrated a causal association of random assignment to high-quality foster care intervention in early childhood with remediation of adolescent structural brain development. To date, however, caregiving quality has not been examined as a mechanism contributing to these neurodevelopmental changes. Moreover, further delineating the effects of developmental timing of high-quality caregiving experiences on neural development is critical to inform intervention for early psychosocial deprivation. In the present study, early childhood caregiving quality was examined as a mechanism underlying foster care intervention and adolescent brain structure among ever-institutionalized youth in the BEIP. Additionally, we examined the effect of the developmental timing of high-quality caregiving experiences across development on adolescent brain structure in both ever- and never-institutionalized youth. In Analysis 1, we observed a significant indirect effect of high caregiving quality following random assignment to the foster care intervention on cortical thickness in the left inferior frontal gyrus and surface area in the right lateral occipital cortex at Age 16. In Analysis 2, the earliest caregiving experiences were uniquely and consistently associated with adolescent cortical thickness. However, high-quality caregiving experiences across childhood and adolescence were associated with adolescent cortical surface area in distinct regions. Taken together, findings suggest that high-quality caregiving experiences across development, but especially in early childhood, can influence adolescent cortical structure even when accounting for experiences of caregiving adversity.
Descriptors: Child Caregivers, Early Experience, Foster Care, Adolescents, Adolescent Development, Cognitive Development, Brain, Caregiver Child Relationship
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: R01MH091363; K01MH092526; K01MH092555; R01MH115004; F31MH136728
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; 2Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; 3The Ballmer Institute for Children's Behavioral Health, Portland, Oregon, USA; 4Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; 5Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA; 6Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; 7Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA; 8Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 9Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 10Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

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