Early Neglect Can Hinder Child's Relationships
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- "Nurture" may indeed be able to create a
hormonal impact on "nature."
A study of adopted orphans suggests early emotional deprivation can lead to
hormonal deficiencies. This, in turn, may undermine an individual's ability
to form healthy relationships as he or she ages.
Focusing on children raised in harsh orphanage environments in Russia and
Romania prior to adoption by American families, researchers observed
significant long-term drops in two hormones known to be key to regulating
emotion.
"Previously, we haven't known very much about how the early social
experiences we have in infancy may play an important role in later life, and
this suggests that the kinds of social experiences we have in infancy really
are important in configuring the human brain and influencing the social
behaviors we exhibit as adults," said study co-author Seth D. Pollak from
the department of psychology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The hormones in question -- oxytocin and arginine vasopressin (AVP) -- are
believed to play an integral role from birth onward in priming children to
communicate and bond with their parents, peers and other adults.
The absence of such a hormonal "safety blanket" may explain some behavioral
problems displayed later in life by kids initially exposed to poor
caregiving, the researchers conclude.
Pollak and his colleagues compared the hormonal levels of 18 children raised
in orphanages shortly after birth with those of 21 children reared by their
biological parents.
Reporting in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the authors describe the orphanages as settings where a "prominent
lack of emotional and physical contact from caregivers" was the norm.
The children lived in these types of institutional environments for an
average of about 17 months (ranging from seven to 42 months). At the time of
the study, the children had been living with their adoptive families in the
United States for an average of just under three years.
Both groups of children in the study were of comparable age and physically
healthy. The biological and adoptive families all lived in the Wisconsin
area and shared similar well-to-do socioeconomic profiles.
Over the course of a two-week period, all the children were exposed to an
interactive computer game while sitting for a half hour in the lap of both
their mother and, subsequently, an adult female stranger.
Throughout each game session, the adults engaged with the children by means
of tickling, patting, counting, and whispering. Prior to, and within 20
minutes of the interaction, researchers obtained urine samples to track
changes in hormonal levels.
The researchers found that while the amount of oxytocin among the children
did not differ before the experiment, AVP levels were lower among those who
had been raised in the orphanage environments.
In addition, the orphans didn't experience the rise in oxytocin hormones
seen in family-reared children following game sessions involving their
mothers.
But when the experiment was conducted with an adult the child didn't know,
no differences in oxytocin levels were observed. AVP levels were comparable
for both groups of children following sessions with either the mother or the
adult stranger.
According to the researchers, the observed differences in hormonal activity
between the two groups of children points to developmental changes in the
brains of the adopted orphans. Specifically, neurological mechanisms
directing the activity of oxytocin and AVP may have been altered in children
deprived of stable and nurturing family environments, they said.
Pollak said further research is need to clarify the long-term effects of
early neglect and to point to treatments, including medication, that might
help these at-risk children.
"One of the most interesting things is that a lot of parents who've adopted
children from these orphanages often talk about the children being anxious
-- having temper tantrums, being nervous kids, having trouble dropping them
off at school," noted Pollak. "So it may be a biological mechanism that is
not operating well that explains this."
Dr. Bruce Perry, a senior fellow at the Houston-based nonprofit Child Trauma
Academy, said the findings don't apply to adopted children in general, since
most will have received adequate care from birth. And he said that, even for
neglected children, behavioral problems aren't irreversible.
"We fully expect that when children who are neglected like this get care
over time those parts of the brain affected are capable of changing, because
the brain is malleable and capable of responding to a whole range of
environmental experiences, both good and bad," he said. "So now these
children are in a position where we can be hopeful that they will get
better."
SOURCES: Seth D. Pollak, Ph.D, department of psychology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison; Bruce Perry, M.D., Ph.D., senior fellow, Child Trauma
Academy, Houston; Nov. 21-25, 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences
Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.
Oxytocin is indeed the hormone of love as Michel Odent calls it!
This article would also support the argument against the 'crap' that people
like Gary Ezzo teach!!
Leanne Wynne
Midwife in charge of "Women's Business"
Mildura Aboriginal Health Service Mob 0418 371862
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