14 DAY TRIAL // The absence of a loving caregiver in the earliest years of life could sway the normal activity of two hormones, vasopressin and oxytocinm that play an essential role in the ability to form healthy social bonds and emotional intimacy.
Announced by psychologists at UW-Madison, the new finding demonstrates for the first time that severe neglect and social isolation can directly affect a young child's neurobiology in ways that potentially influence emotional behaviors.
The researchers monitored hormone levels in children before and after they played an animated and interactive computer game, while sitting in the lap of either their mother or an unfamiliar woman.
The results showed that oxytocin levels rose in family-reared subjects and stayed the same among the previously neglected group. That result may help explain the difficulties many of these children have in forming secure relationships, the UW-Madison scientists say.
The UW-Madison scientists worked with 18 four-year-old children who had lived in Russian and Romanian orphanages before being adopted into homes in the Milwaukee area. Despite the fact that the children now live in stable homes, for over three years, in some cases, they might still display some of the telltale behaviors that researchers have come to associate with early neglect.
The abnormal willingness of a child to seek comfort from unfamiliar adults, even in the presence of the adopted parent, is one common instance of such behavior and it is linked to low levels of vasopressin, Wismer Fries noted.
Photo credit: Jeff Miller