Emotion understanding in postinstitutionalized Eastern European children.
To examine the effects of early emotional neglect on children's affective development, we assessed children who had experienced institutionalized care prior to adoption into family environments. One task required children to identify photographs of facial expressions of emotion. A second task required children to match facial expressions to an emotional situation. Internationally adopted, postinstitutionalized children had difficulty identifying facial expressions of emotion. In addition, postinstitutionalized children had significant difficulty matching appropriate facial expressions to happy, sad, and fearful scenarios. However, postinstitutionalized children performed as well as comparison children when asked to identify and match angry facial expressions. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of emotional input early in life on later developmental organization.
Fries
Alison B Wismer
AB
University of Wisconsin at Madison, 53706-8190, USA.
Pollak
Seth D
SD
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D002674:Child, Institutionalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D019372:Orphanages; D010553:Personality Development; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012383:Romania / Q000208:ethnology; D012426:Russia / Q000208:ethnology; D012931:Social Environment; D012951:Socialization; D014481:United States