Abstract
Individual differences in the propensity for left versus right frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry may underlie differences in approach/withdrawal tendencies and mental health deficits. Growing evidence suggests that early life adversity may shape brain development and contribute to the emergence of mental health problems. The present study examined frontal EEG asymmetry (FEA) following the transition to family care in children adopted internationally from institutional care settings between 15 and 36 months of age (N = 82; 46 female, 36 male). Two comparison groups were included: an international adoption control consisting of children adopted from foster care with little to no institutional deprivation (N = 45; 17 female, 28 male) and a post-adoption condition control consisting of children reared in birth families of the same education and income as the adoptive families (N = 48; 23 female, 25 male). Consistent with evidence of greater approach and impulsivity-related behavior problems in post-institutionalized (PI) children, PI status was associated with greater left FEA than found in the other two groups. In addition, left FEA served as a mediator between institutionalization and age 5 ADHD symptoms for girls. Age at adoption and other preadoption factors were examined with results suggesting that earlier adoption into a supportive family resulted in a more typical pattern of brain functioning. Findings support the idea that the capacity of brain activity to evidence typical functioning following perturbation may differ in relation to the timing of intervention and suggest that the earlier the intervention of adoption, the better.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 857-869 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by grants R01 MH080905 and P50 MH78105 from the National Institute of Mental Health awarded to Megan Gunnar. Support was also provided to Kalsea Koss by a National Institute of Mental Health training grant (T32 MH018921) during the preparation of this manuscript. The authors would like to thank Samuel Thorpe for his assistance with the MATLAB EEG processing script as well as the members of the Minnesota International Adoption Project team for their efforts in collecting these data including Bao Moua and Alyssa Miller. The authors are grateful to the parents and children for their participation in this project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
Keywords
- Adoption
- Attention problems
- Early adversity
- Frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry