Longitudinal Studies Using a "Natural Experiment" Design: The Case of Adoptees from Romanian Institutions

Autor/inn/en	Rutter, Michael; Kumsta, Robert; Schlotz, Wolff; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund
Titel	Longitudinal Studies Using a "Natural Experiment" Design: The Case of Adoptees from Romanian Institutions
Quelle	In: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51 (2012) 8, S.762-770 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0890-8567
DOI	10.1016/j.jaac.2012.05.011
Schlagwörter	Child Welfare; Psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Disadvantaged Environment; Romance Languages; Human Body; Institutionalized Persons; Child Development + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kindeswohl; Psychologie; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; Romanische Sprache; Menschlicher Körper; Kindesentwicklung
Abstract	Objective: To summarize the advantages and limitations of general population, high-risk and "natural experiment" longitudinal studies for studying psychological change. The English and Romanian Adoptees study is used as an example of a "natural experiment," and detailed findings are provided. Method: What is new is a focus on the young people who spent the whole of their life in institutional care up to the time of adoption and who did not show subnutrition. The results were compared with a composite comparison group who had not experienced institutional care or who were adopted before the age of 6 months. The outcomes were assessed in terms of previously established deprivation-specific patterns (DSPs). Results: "Pure" psychosocial deprivation was associated with a substantial increase in the rate of DSPs. It was not associated with significantly impaired head growth if institutional care lasted less than 6 months, whereas thereafter there was a 2.5 standard deviation reduction. Subnutrition differed in being accompanied by impaired head and body growth even with institutional care lasting less than 6 months. In the pure psychosocial deprivation group, 45.5% showed a DSP at 15 years compared with 1.3% in the comparison group. Conclusion: "Pure" psychosocial deprivation (in the absence of subnutrition) had a profound effect on psychological functioning in the form of DSPs. Subnutrition had a surprisingly small effect on DSPs. (Contains 4 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10