Institutional Rearing and Deficits in Social Relatedness: Possible Mechanisms and Processes

This article summarizes the research on socio-emotional deficits in postinstitutionalized children. Institutional rearing is associated with early social deprivation, including lack of individualized attention and consistent relatedness from a stable caregiver. Early socio-emotional development of joint attention, pretend play, and attachment are compromised in post-institutionalized children, which may contribute to persistent socioemotional deficits in maintaining social boundaries, peer competence, and social cognition. Problems with attention and executive function may also contribute to difficulty in regulating social interactions. It is concluded that early social experience plays a role in the organization of neural circuits relevant to social interaction and regulation, thereby exerting a long-term influence on the underlying capacity to process social information. KEY-WORDS: early experience, institutionalization, social deprivation developmental outcomes, adopted children Worldwide, institutional rearing has been associated with delays in physical, behavioral, cognitive, and socio-emotional development (Ahmad & Mohamad, 1996; Ames, 1997; Benoit, Jocelyn, Moddeman, & Embree, 1996; Boostani & Tashakkori, 1982; Hostetter, Iverson, Thomas, McKenzie, Dole, & Johnson, 1991; Johnson, 2000; Kaler & Freeman, 1994; Rutter & the ERA Study Team, 1998; Sigal, Perry, Rossignol, & Oimet, 2003; Sloutsky, 1997). These delays may stem from social and physical privation, which may include malnutrition, poor medical care, inadequate cognitive and motor stimulation, and lack of a stable and responsive caregiver (Gunnar, Bruce, & Grotevant, 2000; Johnson, 2000). Of these various forms of privation, the lack of a stable and responsive caregiver is * Corresponding address: Amanda R. Tarullo, University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development, 51 E. River Rd, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Email: [email protected]