Abstract
Early social deprivation (i.e., an insufficiency or lack of parental care) has been identified as a significant adverse early experience that may affect multiple facets of child development and cause long-term outcomes in physical and mental health, cognition and behavior. Current research provides growing evidence that epigenetic reprogramming may be a mechanism modulating these effects of early adversities. This work aimed to investigate the impact of early institutionalization—the immersion in an extreme socially depriving environment in humans—on the epigenome and adaptive behavior of young children up to 4 years of age. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving two comparison groups: 29 children raised in orphanages and 29 children raised in biological families. Genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of blood cells were obtained using the Illumina MethylationEPIC array; the level of child adaptive functioning was assessed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II. In comparison to children raised in families, children residing in orphanages had both statistically significant deficits in multiple adaptive behavior domains and statistically significant differences in DNA methylation states. Moreover, some of these methylation states may directly modulate the behavioral deficits; according to preliminary estimates, about 7–14% of the deviation of adaptive behavior between groups of children may be determined by their difference in DNA methylation profiles. The duration of institutionalization had a significant impact on both the adaptive level and DNA methylation status of institutionalized children.
Highlights
Psychosocial deprivation is a term that is frequently used to describe early developmental environments characterized by insufficient or absent parental care
A total of 58 children between the ages of 8 and 35 months participated in the study: 29 children residing in the orphanages and 29 children being raised in biological families
The analyses revealed that DNA methylation profiles (DEPI) and DVABS shared approximately 7–14% of variance with R2 = 0.0696 and 0.1354 for the entire cohort of 29 institutional care (IC) children and for the subcohort of 15 children institutionalized at birth, respectively (Fig 9), thereby directly linking group differences in adaptive behavior with those in DNA methylation levels
Summary
Psychosocial deprivation is a term that is frequently used to describe early developmental environments characterized by insufficient or absent parental care. Institutional care is frequently characterized by profound levels of psychosocial deprivation: that is, even when a child’s basic physical and educational needs are addressed, institutional environments prohibit the development of early attachment and other crucial relationships between the child and a stable adult caregiver. Such relationships are critical for children’s socio-emotional development and well-being, and form the foundational layer for the development of self-regulation and adaptive skills [2]
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