Poster #22 - The Enduring Effects of Early Institutionalization on The Diurnal Cortisol Regulation of Internationally Adopted Children

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Integrative Statement

Experiences during infancy and early childhood are believed to play a crucial and unique role in organizing children’s neurobiological development. Specifically, experiences within early attachment relationships are expected to assist with regulating the diurnal functioning of the hypothalamic-adrenocortical (HPA) axis (Koss, Hostinar, Donzella & Gunnar, 2014). Indeed, children who have experienced adversity tend to exhibit more blunted HPA activity throughout the day (Bernard et al. 2010). International adoption offers a powerful test of the unique effects of early experiences of adversity on HPA functioning because many internationally adopted children experience profound adversity prior to being adopted into highly resourced families.
It is commonly assumed that early experiences can have relatively long-term effects that do not fade with time (Raby, Roisman, Fraley, & Simpson, 2015). According to this perspective, experiencing early adversity should have persistent consequences for internationally adopted children’s diurnal HPA outcomes. However, there has been relatively scant longitudinal investigations assessing diurnal cortisol production among internationally adopted children beyond the first few years after adoption (e.g., Koss, Hostinar, Donzella, & Gunnar, 2014). The purpose of the present study was to examine the longer-term consequences of early adversity on HPA functioning at the age of 5 years.
This study examines 78 children adopted internationally (55% female, 45% male) during two time points. The majority of children were adopted from China (42%), South Korea (15%), Eastern Europe (19%), or Ethiopia (10%). Families were recruited to participate shortly after adoption. Adoptive parents’ reports of the time children spent in institutional care prior to adoption was used as the indicator of early adversity. This sample of internationally adopted children spent between 0 and 35 months in institutional care prior to adoption (M = 9.94, SD = 8.7). Children’s diurnal HPA activity was assessed when they were approximately 5-years-old (M = 5.44, SD = 0.56). The average time since adoption was 4.02 years (range = 1.78 to 6.38 years). Children’s salivary cortisol levels were assessed at wake-up and bed time across three days.
Analyses controlling for children’s biological sex, age at the time of the cortisol assessment, and cortisol sampling time indicated that longer time spent in institutional care prior to adoption was associated with more blunted cortisol declines throughout the day (β = .246, p = .042; see Figure 1). Follow-up analyses of the specific time-points revealed that children who spend more time in institutional care had lower waking cortisol levels (β = -.265, p = .029).
In summary, these results indicate that early experiences of severe adversity can disrupt the regulation of children’s HPA axes and the consequences can endure up to four years after adoption. These results could imply that early adversity may have lasting implications for neurobiological development.

Authors

• Jennifer Lauren Isenhour, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Lee Raby, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary Dozier, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author