Risk-taking and sensation-seeking propensity in postinstitutionalized early adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Youth with histories of institutional/orphanage care are at increased risk for externalizing and internalizing problems during childhood and adolescence. Although these problems have been well described, the related adolescent behaviors of risk-taking and sensation-seeking have not yet been explored in this population. This study examined risk-taking and sensation-seeking propensity, and associations with conduct problems and depressive symptoms, in early adolescents who were adopted as young children from institutional care. METHODS: Risk-taking and sensation-seeking propensities of 12- and 13-year-old postinstitutionalized (PI; n = 54) adolescents were compared with two groups: youth who were internationally adopted early from foster care (PFC; n = 44) and nonadopted youth (NA; n = 58). Participants were recruited to equally represent pre/early- and mid/late-pubertal stages within each group. Participants completed the youth version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al., ) and the Sensation-Seeking Scale for Children (Russo et al., ). Parents completed clinical ratings of participants' conduct problems and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: PI adolescents demonstrated lower risk-taking than PFC and NA peers. Pre/early-pubertal PI youth showed lower sensation-seeking, while mid/late-pubertal PI youth did not differ from other groups. PI adolescents had higher levels of conduct problems but did not differ from the other youth in depressive symptoms. In PI youth only, conduct problems were negatively correlated with risk-taking and positively correlated with sensation-seeking, while depressive symptoms were negatively correlated with both risk-taking and sensation-seeking. CONCLUSIONS: Early institutional care is associated with less risk-taking and sensation-seeking during adolescence. The deprived environment of an institution likely contributes to PI youth having a preference for safe choices, which may only be partially reversed with puberty. Whether this reflects hyporesponsiveness to rewards and how it relates to psychopathology are discussed.

Health and Self-Regulation among School-Age Children Experiencing Family Homelessness.

Children in homeless families have high levels of adversity and are at risk for behavior problems and chronic health conditions, however little is known about the relationship between cognitive-emotional self-regulation and health among school-aged homeless children. Children (n = 86; mean age 10.5) living in shelters were assessed for health, family stress/adversity, emotional-behavioral regulation, nonverbal intellectual abilities, and executive function. Vision problems were the most prevalent health condition, followed by chronic respiratory conditions. Cumulative risk, child executive function, and self-regulation problems in children were uniquely related to child physical health. Homeless children experience problems with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral regulation as well as physical health, occurring in a context of high psychosocial risk. Several aspects of children's self-regulation predict physical health in 9- to 11-year-old homeless children. Health promotion efforts in homeless families should address individual differences in children's self-regulation as a resilience factor.

Adversity and children experiencing family homelessness: Implications for health.

This study tests links between adversity and health problems among children in family emergency housing. Children who experience family homelessness are at risk to also experience high levels of stress, health problems, and need for pediatric care. Understanding the connection between stress and health holds the potential to reduce persistent health disparities. Analyses tested whether experiencing a greater number of stressful life events during the early years of life was related to worse health conditions, emergency health care utilization, and hospitalizations. Parents noted children's experience of negative stressful life events, health problems, emergency room (ER) use, and hospitalization. Two cohorts of kindergarten-aged children staying in emergency family housing participated in the study in 2006-07 (n = 104) and in 2008-09 (n = 138), with the results examined separately. In both cohorts, more health problems were acknowledged for children exposed to more negative stressful life events. Stressful life events were not related to ER use but did relate to hospitalization for the 2006-07 cohort. Results affirm links between stress in early childhood and health problems among children living in emergency housing. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adversity in early childhood contributes to income and racial disparities in health.

Asthma and adaptive functioning among homeless kindergarten-aged children in emergency housing.

BACKGROUND: Children who experience homelessness have elevated rates of asthma, a risk factor for other problems. Purpose. Examine rates of asthma and its relation to health care use and adaptive functioning among young children staying in family emergency shelters. METHODS: Children and caregivers (N = 138) completed assessments in shelters, including measurement of child cognitive functioning, parent report of child health care service utilization and asthma diagnosis, and teacher report of child school functioning. RESULTS: Asthma diagnosis was reported for 21% of 4-to-6-year-old children, about twice the national and state prevalences. Children with asthma used more health care services and had worse peer relationships. Asthma did not relate to cognitive test performance or subsequent academic performance, or to other behavior problems in school. CONCLUSIONS: High rates of asthma remain an important issue for children in emergency family housing, a context with high levels of child risk for toxic stress exposure and developmental problems.