Neurobiology and behavior associated with early neglect: An exploratory comparison of neglected US children and international adoptees

Objective

This exploratory study investigates the effects of childhood neglect exposure within a family setting and in children adopted from Russian orphanages on markers of stress physiology as well as behavioral and emotional problems in pre-pubertal children.

Participants: Families of 17 U.S. children with a history of familial neglect (USN), 15 international adoptees from orphanages (IA), and 28 children living with biologic parents with no known history of maltreatment (controls).

Methods

Parents completed Child Behavior Checklists (CBCL) and demographic information. Morning salivary cortisol was collected at baseline before a blood draw (for serum biological markers) and at set intervals. The first morning urinary void was obtained to measure arginine vasopressin (AVP), oxytocin (OT), cortisol, and epinephrine levels.

Results

IA children had the lowest urinary AVP levels, highest urinary epinephrine, a higher cortisol peak and longer recovery. There were no OT differences between the three groups. The USN group had the lowest urinary epinephrine levels. Both neglect groups had higher behavior problem scores on the CBCL with the USN group having the highest scores. There was a strong consistent association between AVP and 4 out of 6 CBCL outcomes – but not with OT, cortisol or epinephrine.

Conclusions

In this study, there were significant differences in both biologic and psychosocial measures between the control group, the USN and the IA groups suggesting that the timing, type and context of neglect may impact biologic and psychosocial sequalae.