ABSTRACT

Objective

Early psychosocial deprivation increases the risk of later cognitive and psychiatric problems, but not all deprived children show these difficulties. Here, we examine the extent to which psychosocial deprivation increases the risk of later cognitive and psychiatric difficulties and the downstream consequences of this for risk-taking behavior in adolescence.

Method

Children abandoned to institutions early in life were randomly assigned to care-as-usual or a foster care intervention during infancy. A separate group of never-institutionalized children was recruited as a comparison sample. The current follow-up study included 165 children (51% female), 113 with a history of institutionalization and 52 with no such history. At age 12, caregivers reported on children’s psychiatric difficulties, and their IQ was assessed by standardized testing. At 16 years, risk-taking behavior was assessed from youth self-reports.

Results

Latent profile analysis revealed three subgroups of children with varying levels of cognitive and psychiatric difficulties: Low-Morbidity (n = 104, 62.7%), Medium-Morbidity (n = 46, 27.9%), and High-Morbidity (n = 15, 9.4%). Nearly half of the institutionalized children belonged to the High- or Medium-Morbidity subgroups; and institutionally-reared children were significantly more likely to belong to one of these profiles than never-institutionalized children. Compared to the Low-Morbidity subgroup, membership in the Medium-Morbidity profile was associated with higher levels of risk-taking behavior at age 16 years.

Conclusions

Children who experience psychosocial deprivation are considerably more likely to present with elevated cognitive and psychiatric difficulties in early adolescence and, for some children, this elevation is linked to heightened risk-taking behavior in later adolescence.

中文翻译：

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早期社会心理剥夺、认知和精神病发病率以及青春期冒险行为之间的关联

摘要

客观的

早期社会心理剥夺会增加日后出现认知和精神问题的风险，但并非所有被剥夺的儿童都表现出这些困难。在这里，我们研究了社会心理剥夺在多大程度上增加了后期认知和精神困难的风险，以及这对青春期冒险行为的下游后果。

方法

在生命早期被遗弃到机构的儿童在婴儿期被随机分配到照常照料或寄养干预。招募了另一组从未被机构收容的儿童作为比较样本。目前的后续研究包括 165 名儿童（51% 为女性），其中 113 名有收容机构历史，52 名没有此类历史。在 12 岁时，照顾者报告了儿童的精神问题，并通过标准化测试评估了他们的智商。在 16 岁时，根据青少年的自我报告评估冒险行为。

结果

Latent profile analysis revealed three subgroups of children with varying levels of cognitive and psychiatric difficulties: Low-Morbidity (n = 104, 62.7%), Medium-Morbidity (n = 46, 27.9%), and High-Morbidity (n = 15, 9.4%). Nearly half of the institutionalized children belonged to the High- or Medium-Morbidity subgroups; and institutionally-reared children were significantly more likely to belong to one of these profiles than never-institutionalized children. Compared to the Low-Morbidity subgroup, membership in the Medium-Morbidity profile was associated with higher levels of risk-taking behavior at age 16 years.

Conclusions

遭受社会心理剥夺的儿童在青春期早期出现认知和精神困难的可能性要高得多，对于一些儿童来说，这种情况与青春期后期冒险行为的增加有关。