Research on Romanian orphans

Much of this new research was done on Romanian orphans who were raised in government run institutions. They studied children who were raised without normal family activity and attention.

Harvard University researchers who studied Romanian infants raised in orphanages reported that when lacking the attention and stimulation typical of family life, the 2- to 3-year-old children developed abnormally high and lasting levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, which can have serious long-range effects.

The children who had the highest levels of cortisol also had the lowest scores on tests of mental and motor ability. Abnormal levels of cortisol can cause changes in the hippocampus, a structure in the brain involved in learning and memory. "Our findings support clinical research showing that infants cared for in institutions grow slowly and have behavioural retardation," Carlson said. P

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