# The Effects of Early Psychosocial Deprivation on Mental Health in Early Adulthood

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2022 · $654,725

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Over the past 17 years, we have conducted the first-ever randomized controlled trial (RCT) of foster care as an
alternative to institutional care for young children, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). We now
propose an assessment of the participants in this project at age 21 years. The new assessment period will
provide novel and important data regarding the transition to adulthood and allow us to answer timely questions
about the possibility that adolescence is a second period of marked sensitivity to environmental influences and
neural reorganization during which positive caregiving experiences may mitigate, at least in part, the negative
effects of early adversity on cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological processes as well as psychopathology.
The proposed analyses will make use of the intensive repeated assessments that have occurred beginning
when participants were infants and toddles still living in institutions, following them after randomization to care
as usual or foster care placement through childhood and adolescence. The longitudinal design is unique in
measuring multiple constructs over time spanning early, middle, and late childhood, as well as the pre-pubertal
period and the transition to adolescence. This allows us to examine whether domains of development that
were unaffected by the early intervention (e.g., Cognitive Control) may improve during adolescence among
children in stable caregiving placements, as well as whether additional improvements occur in domains that
were positively influenced by the intervention, but where children continued to show difficulties compared to
typically developing children (e.g., Reward Responsiveness). These questions will be examined not only using
behavioral data, but also in several neurobiological domains that no prior study of early adversity has assessed
over such a long period. This includes EEG, ERP, MRI, and DTI data in the neuroimaging domain, as well as
comprehensive measures of cognitive, social, and emotional functioning at every time point. Our longitudinal
RCT design with repeated assessment of caregiving relationships, psychopathology, and cognitive, emotional,
and brain development allows us to examine the joint influence of early and later caregiving experiences in
shaping a wide range of developmental processes. We will examine relations between early and later
caregiving experiences and risk for psychopathology during adolescence and early adulthood, periods
characterized by markedly elevated risk for the onset of psychiatric disorders. Our unique data allow us to
evaluate whether specific domains of cognitive, emotional, and neurobiological development “recover” or
“catch up” for children who experienced severe early deprivation followed by stable caregiving in adolescence.
We will also assess the effects of early adversity and positive caregiving experiences on the emergence of
developmentally appropriate competencies during young adu...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10421399
- **Project number:** 5R01MH091363-13
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Nathan A Fox
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $654,725
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-08-18 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10421399

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10421399, The Effects of Early Psychosocial Deprivation on Mental Health in Early Adulthood (5R01MH091363-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10421399. Licensed CC0.

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