The Fate of Abandoned Children

这项授予布朗大学的奖项支持一位人类学家对19世纪欧洲弃婴制度的历史人口学的研究。通过分析意大利博洛尼亚一家弃婴之家的记录，以及附近社区的记录，研究人员将追踪在家中长大的儿童的生活历程。这项研究的目的是描述活到成年的儿童的生活，提供对当时家庭和社会生活更普遍方面的洞察，并分析性别差异。初步数据显示，男孩比女孩更容易受到弃婴地位的影响，因为女孩想要嫁得更高。弃婴系统很普遍，虽然弃婴死亡率至少是一般人口死亡率的两倍，但数以千计的弃婴存活下来，成为社会的生产性成员。这项研究将追踪弃婴状态对以后生活的影响。目前，家庭的性质和社会健康是整个社会关注的问题。许多政客、规划者和评论员哀叹家庭的“破裂”，以及这对儿童行为的影响。孤儿院等非家庭机构一直被认为是解决不正常家庭状况的替代办法。这个项目研究了过去类似的情况，并将促进我们对传统家庭教育替代方案的后果的理解。这类研究很重要，因为它将使历史教训对这些当前的问题产生影响，并为比较分析提供宝贵的数据库。

This award to Brown University supports the research of an anthropologist on the historical demography of the European foundling system of the 19th century. Through analysis of records from a foundling home in Bologna, Italy, as well as records from nearby communities, the researchers will trace the course of the lives of children brought up in the home. The purpose of the research is to describe the lives of the children who survived to adulthood, to provide insight into more general aspects of family and social life at the time, and to analyze differences by gender. The preliminary data show that boys were more disadvantaged by foundling status than girls, since girls attempted to marry up` in status. The foundling system was widespread and while foundling infant mortality was at least twice as high as the general population's rate, many thousands of foundlings survived and became productive members of society. This research will trace the effects of foundling status on later life. At the present time the nature and social health of the family is a matter of concern to society at large. Many politicians, planners and commentators lament the `breakdown` of the family, and the impact this has on the behavior of children. Non-family institutions such as orphanages have been considered as alternatives to dysfunctional family situations. This project studies a comparable situation in the past, and will advance our understanding of the consequences of alternatives to traditional family upbringing. This sort of research is important because it will bring the lessons of history to bear on these current questions as well as making a valuable data base available for comparative analysis.