title: Emotional abuse in early childhood: relationships with progress in subsequent family placement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies of family placements have indicated poorer outcomes for singly placed children. Two of our own studies have additionally shown that late placements of children who were actively singled out from siblings and alone in the care system were at increased risk of poor progress in the first year.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper draws on the data available for singly placed children from both studies to explore this phenomenon in more detail. The current analyses are limited by the fact that neither study was designed specifically to explore the effect of singling out or parental rejection, rather it emerged as a characteristic of potential explanatory importance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings suggest that a history of being singled out or 'preferentially rejected' by birth parents, particularly in combination with 'false affection' from the child and lower levels of sensitivity in the new parents, was associated with poorer outcomes in the first year. Such children were more likely to show deteriorating behaviour patterns and to have more problems in forming satisfactory relationships with new family members.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older age at placement was associated with poorer outcome, but only significantly so among those children not classified as false in their displays of affection.
authors.affiliation: Maudsley Family Research Studies, Health Services Research Dept, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. c.dance@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Cherilyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dance
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rushton
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Quinton
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002652:Child Behavior; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012307:Risk Factors