Abstract
Importance It is unclear whether early institutional rearing is associated with more problematic trajectories of psychopathology from childhood to adolescence and whether assignment to foster care mitigates this risk.
Objectives To examine trajectories of latent psychopathology factors—general (P), internalizing (INT), and externalizing (EXT)—among children reared in institutions and to evaluate whether randomization to foster care is associated with reductions in psychopathology from middle childhood through adolescence.
Design, Setting, and Participants This longitudinal, intent-to-treat randomized clinical trial was conducted in Bucharest, Romania, where children residing in 6 institutions underwent baseline testing and were then randomly assigned to a care as usual group (CAUG) or a foster care group (FCG). A matched sample of a never-institutionalized group (NIG) was recruited to serve as a comparison group. The study commenced in April 2001, and the most recent (age 16 years) follow-up started in January 2015 and is ongoing.
Intervention Institutionally reared children randomized to high-quality foster homes.
Main Outcomes and Measures Psychopathology was measured using the MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire. Teachers and/or caregivers reported on symptoms of psychopathology in several domains.
Results A total of 220 children (50.0% female; 119 ever institutionalized) were included in the analysis at the mean ages of 8, 12, and 16 years. A latent bifactor model with general (P) and specific internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) factors offered a good fit to the data. At age 8 years, CAUG (mean, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.17-0.67) and FCG (mean, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.04-0.53) had higher P than NIG (mean, −0.40; 95% CI, −0.56 to −0.18). By age 16 years, FCG (mean, 0.07; 95% CI, −0.18 to 0.29) had lower P than CAUG (mean, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.13-0.60). This effect was likely driven by modest declines in P from age 8 years to age 16 years among FCG (slope, −0.12; 95% CI, −0.26 to 0.04) compared with CAUG, who remained stably high over this period (slope, −0.02; 95% CI, −0.19 to 0.14). Moreover, CAUG and FCG showed increasing divergence in EXT over time, such that FCG (mean, −0.30; 95% CI, −0.58 to −0.02) had fewer problems than CAUG (mean, 0.05; 95% CI, −0.25 to 0.36) by age 16 years. No INT differences were observed.
Conclusions and Relevance Institutionalization increases transdiagnostic vulnerability to psychopathology from childhood to adolescence, a period of significant social and biological change. Early assignment to foster care partially mitigates this risk, thus highlighting the importance of social enrichment in buffering the effects of severe early neglect on trajectories of psychopathology.