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Alterations in neural processing and psychopathology in children raised in institutions
Natalie Slopen1, Katie A McLaughlin, Nathan A Fox
1Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. nslopen@hsph.harvard.edu
Insights
Institutional rearing in early childhood disrupts brain development, specifically the P700 response to faces, increasing the risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other psychopathology.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
Background:
- Institutional rearing involves severe deprivation of social, emotional, and cognitive stimulation.
- This deprivation can disrupt brain development, increasing psychopathology risk.
- Neurodevelopmental mechanisms linking early adversity to psychopathology are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if neural processing abnormalities of facial and emotional stimuli are linked to high psychopathology rates in institutionally reared children.
- To explore the relationship between event-related potentials (ERPs) and psychiatric symptoms in this population.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, comparing institutionally reared children with community controls.
- Measured neural processing using event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to familiar/unfamiliar faces and facial emotions at mean age 22 months.
- Assessed psychiatric symptoms, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression, at 54 months.
Main Results:
- Institutionally reared children showed elevated ADHD, anxiety, depression, and disruptive behavior symptoms.
- Blunted P100 and P700 peak amplitudes in response to facial stimuli were observed in institutionalized children.
- Reduced P100 and P700 amplitudes correlated with higher ADHD and anxiety symptoms.
- P700 amplitude mediated the link between institutional rearing and ADHD symptoms at 54 months.
Conclusions:
- Institutional rearing disrupts the P700 neural response, elevating psychopathology risk.
- Abnormal neurodevelopmental patterns from early life deprivation may contribute to high ADHD symptoms in these children.
Context:
Young children raised in institutional settings experience severe deprivation in social, emotional, and cognitive stimulation. Although this deprivation is likely to disrupt brain development in ways that increase the risk for psychopathology, neurodevelopmental mechanisms linking adverse early environments to psychopathology remain poorly understood.
Objective:
To examine whether abnormalities in the neural processing of facial and emotional stimuli are related to the high rates of psychopathology observed among institutionally reared children.
Design, Setting, And Participants:
Data were drawn from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a cohort of children raised in institutions in Romania and an age-matched sample of community control subjects. At entry to the study (mean age, 22 months), event-related potentials were used to measure neural processing in 2 tasks: familiar and unfamiliar faces (n=114) and facial displays of emotion (n=74).
Main Outcome Measures:
Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment among children aged 54 months.
Results:
As previously reported, institutionally reared children had elevated symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and disruptive behavior compared with control children, and peak amplitudes of the P100 and P700 in response to facial stimuli were blunted among institutionalized children compared with community children in both tasks. Current analyses reveal that children with reduced P100 and P700 amplitudes in response to facial stimuli exhibited higher levels of ADHD and anxiety symptoms. Peak amplitude of the P700 in response to facial stimuli significantly mediated the association between institutional rearing and ADHD symptoms at 54 months.
Conclusion:
Exposure to institutional rearing disrupts the P700, conferring risk for the onset of psychopathology. The high levels of ADHD symptoms among children exposed to early life deprivation may be attributable, in part, to abnormal patterns of neurodevelopment generated by these adverse rearing environments.
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