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

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · 2024 · $209,326

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Over the past 23 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 in this supplement application support for our staff to finalize data collection on the Bucharest sample.
The assessments 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 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
adulthood. Determining the relevance of adolescent caregiving experiences in shaping psychopathology in
emerging adulthood is essential to designing interventions that have the potential to buffer the effects of early
adversity in the US and worldwide.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10897567
- **Project number:** 3R01MH091363-14S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
- **Principal Investigator:** Nathan A Fox
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $209,326
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2010-08-18 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10897567

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10897567, The Effects of Early Psychosocial Deprivation on Mental Health in Early Adulthood- COVID Supplement (3R01MH091363-14S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10897567. Licensed CC0.

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