Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T03:58:51.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disinhibited social behavior among internationally adopted children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Jacqueline Bruce ,
Amanda R. Tarullo  and
Megan R. Gunnar
Jacqueline Bruce*
Affiliation:
Oregon Social Learning Center & Center for Research to Practice
Amanda R. Tarullo
Affiliation:
Columbia University
Megan R. Gunnar
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jacqueline Bruce, Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Boulevard, Eugene, OR 97401-4928; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Postinstitutionalized children frequently demonstrate persistent socioemotional difficulties. For example, some postinstitutionalized children display an unusual lack of social reserve with unfamiliar adults. This behavior, which has been referred to as indiscriminate friendliness, disinhibited attachment behavior, and disinhibited social behavior, was examined by comparing children internationally adopted from institutional care to children internationally adopted from foster care and children raised by their biological families. Etiological factors and behavioral correlates were also investigated. Both groups of adopted children displayed more disinhibited social behavior than the nonadopted children. Of the etiological factors examined, only the length of time in institutional care was related to disinhibited social behavior. Disinhibited social behavior was not significantly correlated with general cognitive ability, attachment-related behaviors, or basic emotion abilities. However, this behavior was negatively associated with inhibitory control abilities even after controlling for the length of time in institutional care. These results suggest that disinhibited social behavior might reflect underlying deficits in inhibitory control.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 157 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albers, L. H., Johnson, D. E., Hostetter, M. K., Iverson, S., & Miller, L. C. (1997). Health of children adopted from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 922–924.Google Scholar
Albus, K. E., & Dozier, M. (1999). Indiscriminate friendliness and terror of strangers in infancy: Contributions from the study of infants in foster care. Infant Mental Health Journal, 20, 30–41.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benoit, T. C., Jocelyn, L. J., Moddemann, D. M., & Embree, J. E. (1996). Romanian adoption: The Manitoba experience. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 150, 1278–1282.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Casey, B. J., Castellanos, F. X., Giedd, J. N., Marsh, W. L., Hamburger, S. D., Schubert, A. B., et al. (1997). Implication of right frontostriatal circuitry in response inhibition and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 374–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chisholm, K. (1998). A three year follow-up of attachment and indiscriminate friendliness in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Child Development, 69, 1092–1106.Google ScholarPubMed
Chisholm, K., Carter, M. C., Ames, E. W., & Morison, S. J. (1995). Attachment security and indiscriminate friendly behavior in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 283–294.Google Scholar
Chugani, H. T., Behen, M. E., Muzik, O., Juhasz, C., Nagy, F., & Chugani, D. C. (2001). Local brain functional activity following early deprivation: A study of postinstitutionalized Romanian orphans. NeuroImage, 14, 1290–1301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dollaghan, C. A., Campbell, T. F., Paradise, J. L., Feldman, H. M., Janosky, J. E., Pitcairn, D. N., et al. (1999). Maternal education and measures of early speech and language. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1432–1443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, L., Ames, E. W., Chisholm, K., & Savioe, L. (1997). Problems reported by parents of Romanian orphans adopted into British Columbia. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., Bruce, J., & Grotevant, H. D. (2000). International adoption of institutionally reared children: Research and policy. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 677–693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodges, J., & Tizard, B. (1989a). IQ and behavioral adjustment of ex-institutional adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 30, 53–75.Google Scholar
Hodges, J., & Tizard, B. (1989b). Social and family relationships of ex-institutional adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 30, 77–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hostetter, M. K., Iverson, S., Thomas, W., McKenzie, D., Dole, K., & Johnson, D. E. (1991). Medical evaluation of internationally adopted children. New England Journal of Medicine, 325, 479–485.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. E. (2000). The impact of orphanage rearing on growth and development. In Nelson, C. A. (Ed.), The effects of adversity on neurobehavioral development: Minnesota symposia on child psychology (Vol. 31, pp. 113–162). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. E., Miller, L. C., Iverson, S., Thomas, W., Franshino, B., Dole, K., et al. (1992). The health of children adopted from Romania. Journal of the American Medical Association, 268, 3446–3451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kagan, J. (1989). The concept of behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar. In Reznick, J. S. (Ed.), Perspectives on behavioral inhibition (pp. 1–23). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kim, W. J. (1995). International adoption: A case review of Korean children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 25, 141–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Coy, K. C. (1997). Inhibitory control as a contributor to conscience in childhood: From toddler to early school age. Child Development, 68, 263–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreppner, J. M., O'Connor, T. G., Rutter, M., & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. (2001). Can inattention/overactivity be an institutional deprivation syndrome? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 513–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLean, K. (2003). The impact of institutionalization on child development. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 853–884.Google Scholar
Morison, S. J., Ames, E. W., & Chisholm, K. (1995). The development of children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 41, 411–430.Google Scholar
Morison, S. J., & Ellwood, A. L. (2000). Resiliency in the aftermath of deprivation: A second look at the development of Romanian orphanage children. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 46, 717–737.Google Scholar
Muhamedrahimov, R. J., Palmov, O. I., Nikiforova, N. V., Groark, C. J., & McCall, R. B. (2004). Institution-based early intervention program. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25, 488–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Bredenkamp, D., Rutter, M., & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. (1999). Attachment disturbances and disorders in children exposed to early severe deprivation. Infant Mental Health Journal, 20, 10–29.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Marvin, R. S., Rutter, M., Olrick, J. T., Britner, P. A., & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. (2003). Child–parent attachment following early institutional deprivation. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 19–38.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Rutter, M., & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. (2000). Attachment disorder behavior following early severe deprivation: Extension and longitudinal follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 703–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R., & Bank, L. (1986). Bootstrapping your way in the nomological thicket. Behavioral Assessment, 8, 49–73.Google Scholar
Perlman, S., Kalish, C.W., & Pollak, S. D. (2008). The role of maltreatment experience in children's understanding of the antecedents of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 22, 651–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M. K., Ahadi, S. A., Hershey, K. L., & Fisher, P. A. (2001). Investigations of temperament at three to seven years: The Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Child Development, 72, 1394–1408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roy, P., Rutter, M., & Pickles, A. (2004). Institutional care: Associations between overactivity and lack of selectivity in social relationships. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 45, 866–873.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Colvert, E., Kreppner, J., Beckett, C., Castle, J., Groothues, C., et al. (2007). Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees: I. Disinhibited attachment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48, 17–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team. (1998). Developmental catch-up, and deficit, following adoption after severe global early privation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39, 465–476.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Kreppner, J. M., & O'Connor, T. G. (2001). Specificity and heterogeneity in children's responses to profound institutional privation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 97–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sattler, J. M. (1992). Assessment of Children (3rd ed.).San Diego, CA: Jerome M. Sattler.Google Scholar
Smyke, A. T., Dumitrescu, A., & Zeanah, C. H. (2002). Attachment disturbances in young children. I. The continuum of caretaking casualty. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 972–982.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tarullo, A. R., Bruce, J., & Gunnar, M. R. (2007). False belief and emotion understanding in post-institutionalized children. Social Development, 16, 57–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tizard, B., & Hodges, J. (1978). The effects of early institutional rearing on the development of eight-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 19, 99–118.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tizard, B., & Rees, J. (1974). A comparison of the effects of adoption, restoration to the natural mother, and continued institutionalization on the cognitive development of four-year-old children. Child Development, 45, 92–99.Google Scholar
Tizard, B., & Rees, J. (1975). The effect of early institutional rearing on the behaviour problems and affectional relationships of four-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 16, 61–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
US Department of State. (n.d.). Immigrant visas issued to orphans coming to the U.S. Retrieved June 18, 2007, from http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/stats/stats_451.htmlGoogle Scholar
Verhulst, F. C., Althaus, M., & Versluis-Den Bieman, H. J. M. (1990a). Problem behavior in international adoptees: I. An epidemiological study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 94–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verhulst, F. C., Althaus, M., & Versluis-Den Bieman, H. J. M. (1990b). Problem behavior in international adoptees: II. Age at adoption. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vorria, P., Rutter, M., Pickles, A., Wolkind, S., & Hobsbaum, A. (1998). A comparative study of Greek children in long-term residential group care and in two-parent families: I. Social, emotional, and behavioral differences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39, 225–236.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1991). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.).San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wismer Fries, A. B., & Pollak, S. D. (2004). Emotion understanding in postinstitutionalized Eastern European children. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 355–369.Google Scholar
Zeanah, C. H., Smyke, A. T., & Dumitrescu, A. (2002). Attachment disturbances in young children. II: Indiscriminate behavior and institutional care. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 983–989.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed