University of New Orleans, USA.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Jul;51(7):683-93. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2012.05.004. Epub 2012 May 24.
Children exposed to early institutional rearing are at risk for developing psychopathology. The present investigation examines caregiving quality and the role of attachment security as they relate to symptoms of psychopathology in young children exposed to early institutionalization.
Participants were enrolled in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), a longitudinal intervention study of children abandoned and placed in institutions at or shortly after birth. Measures included observed caregiving when children were 30 months of age, observed attachment security at 42 months, and caregiver reports of children's psychopathology at 54 months. At 54 months, some children remained in institutions, others were in foster care, others had been adopted domestically, and still others had been returned to their biological families. Thus, the children had experienced varying amounts of institutional rearing.
After controlling for gender, quality of caregiving when children were 30 months old was associated with symptoms of multiple domains of psychopathology at 54 months of age. Ratings of security of attachment at 42 months mediated the associations between quality caregiving at 30 months and fewer symptoms of psychopathology at 54 months.
Among deprived young children, high-quality caregiving at 30 months predicted reduced psychopathology and functional impairment at 54 months. Security of attachment mediated this relationship. Interventions for young children who have experienced deprivation may benefit from explicitly targeting caregiver-child attachment relationships.
暴露于早期机构抚养环境中的儿童存在出现精神病理学的风险。本研究调查了养育质量以及依恋安全性的作用，因为它们与暴露于早期机构化环境中的幼儿的精神病理学症状有关。
参与者被纳入布加勒斯特早期干预项目（BEIP），这是一项针对出生时或出生后不久被遗弃并安置在机构中的儿童的纵向干预研究。研究措施包括儿童 30 个月时的观察性养育、42 个月时的观察性依恋安全性以及 54 个月时照顾者对儿童精神病理学的报告。在 54 个月时，一些儿童仍在机构中，一些在寄养家庭中，一些在国内被收养，还有一些已被送回亲生家庭。因此，这些儿童经历了不同程度的机构抚养。
在控制了性别后，儿童 30 个月时的养育质量与 54 个月时多个精神病理学领域的症状有关。42 个月时的依恋安全性评分在 30 个月时的优质养育与 54 个月时较少的精神病理学症状之间的关联中起中介作用。
在贫困的幼儿中，30 个月时的高质量养育可预测 54 个月时较少的精神病理学和功能障碍。依恋安全性介导了这种关系。经历过剥夺的幼儿的干预措施可能受益于明确针对照顾者-儿童依恋关系。
