Inattention/overactivity following early severe institutional deprivation: presentation and associations in early adolescence

Inattention/overactivity following early severe institutional deprivation: presentation and associations in early adolescence

Stevens SE, Sonuga-Barke EJ, Kreppner JM, Beckett C, Castle J, Colvert E, Groothues C, Hawkins A, Rutter M · Journal of abnormal child psychology

Researchers followed inattention and overactivity from ages six to eleven in Romanian adoptees and UK adoptee controls using parent and teacher ratings. These difficulties remained associated with longer institutional deprivation and overlapped with conduct problems, disinhibited attachment and executive-function difficulties.

Limitations: Parent and teacher ratings are not equivalent to independent clinical diagnoses; associations do not establish the proposed developmental mechanisms. Extreme early institutional deprivation; results do not represent adoptees generally. Participants overlap with other ERA publications. Evidence-provider note: adoptive parents supplied some or all questionnaire/interview assessments of the adoptee’s outcomes. These proxy reports are not the adoptee’s own account; other evidence sources, where present, are described in the summary.

Research type

Longitudinal cohort analysis

Source reviewed

Abstract

Peer reviewed

Yes

Age group

Children