School victimization and psychosocial adjustment among Eastern European adopted adolescents across Europe.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about bullying experienced by internationally adopted teens residing in Europe. OBJECTIVES: Within the framework of an international research effort involving several European countries, the main goal of this study was to explore the experiences of bullying victimization suffered by adopted adolescents, as well as its impact on their psychological adjustment. METHODS: The sample consisted of 199 adolescents born in Eastern European countries and adopted in France (n = 50), Italy (n = 59), Norway (n = 25) and Spain (n = 65). RESULTS: More than half of the adopted adolescents had been exposed to some form of peer victimization in the previous 2 months, with verbal harassment and social exclusion being the most common forms of victimization. Differences between receiving countries were not statistically significant, suggesting a common pattern for Eastern European adopted adolescents living in Western Europe. More frequent experiences of peer victimization were associated with more psychological difficulties among the adopted adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight that adopted adolescents might have considerable difficulties in social integration with peers; these experiences of peer victimization might play an important role hindering their psychosocial adjustment. The socioemotional development of adopted people is not only linked to their pre-adoptive experiences; factors in their daily lives (i.e., peer relationships) may also be associated with their psychological adjustment later in life. Interventions are needed to promote the real inclusion of these groups of children in their social and educational contexts.

Foster children's attachment representations: the role of type of maltreatment and the relationship with birth family.

Children in foster care are at risk of developing insecure and disorganized attachment, which is problematic for establishing new relationships in foster families. However, most previous studies have focused on attachment behaviors in young children rather than on attachment representations. We compared foster children's attachment representations with those of a community group, analyzing also the contribution made by different factors to foster children's attachment representations. We assessed the attachment representations of 109 children aged between 4 and 9 years (51 children in non-kin foster care and 58 community children) in southern Spain, using a narrative story stem measure. Case records information were collected for adversity and child protection variables. Foster children had fewer security and more avoidance indicators than their community counterparts, with those who had suffered more severe maltreatment scoring lower for security and higher for disorganization. Exposure to physical and emotional abuse and birth parents' opposition to the foster placement predicted more disorganized attachment representations. Interventions with foster children should consider their heterogeneity in terms of attachment outcomes, and foster caregivers of abused children may need guidance in order to provide therapeutic caregiving.

Internalizing Problems in Adopted Eastern European Adolescents: The Role of the Informant, Early Adversity and Post-Adoption Processes.

BACKGROUND: Internationally adopted children who suffered early institutionalization are at risk of a late onset of internalizing problems in adolescence. Both pre-adoption, adversity-related, and post-adoption factors predict variability in internalizing problems in this population. Previous studies have suggested different patterns of parent-adolescent informant discrepancies in adoptive dyads METHOD: We analyzed internalizing problems among 66 adolescents internationally adopted from Russia to Spanish families using both the parent- and self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and comparing them with a low-risk, community group (n = 30). We assessed pre-adoption and post-adoption factors and evaluated cross-informant discrepancies. RESULTS: Internationally adopted adolescents exhibited more internalizing problems by parent-report than community adolescents, but there were no differences by self-report. Adopted youth showed no discrepancies between parent and self-report, whereas community adolescents reported more internalizing symptoms than their parents. Pre-adoption adversity-related factors predicted parent-reported internalizing problems, while post-adoption factors predicted self-reported internalizing problems. CONCLUSIONS: Parent-adolescent informant discrepancies in adopted adolescents from Eastern Europe for internalizing symptoms were lower than in community adolescents. Both adversity-related factors and the lived experience of adoption may influence the development of internalizing symptoms in internationally adopted adolescents.

Attachment representations in internationally adopted children.

Using the Story Stem Assessment Profile, attachment representations were analyzed in a group of 40 internationally adopted children studied after an average of 40 months since their adoption. These children were compared to 58 children living with their birth families and with no experience of maltreatment, and to 50 children who were living in Spanish institutions. All of the children were between four and eight years of age at the time of study. Findings indicated that the adoptees' representations were more negative than those of the control group, but similar to those of the institutionalized children. The associations between different indicators of attachment representations, as well as the role of adopted children's characteristics (pre-adoption experiences, adoption age, time with the adoptive family) were also analyzed. The results showed a long-term impact of early adversity, a certain degree of heterogeneity in the attachment representations' of both the adopted and the institutionalized children, and the role played by certain background and individual variables.

Changes in Attachment Disorder symptoms in children internationally adopted and in residential care.

BACKGROUND: A high incidence of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED) has been reported for children with experiences of trauma and other forms of adversity. OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to explore symptoms of RAD and DSED in children in two protection alternatives (international adoption and residential care) after experiences of early adversity. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The participants were 146 children: 40 children adopted into Spanish families from Russia, 49 children in residential care in Spanish institutions (40.8% in long-term foster centers) and 57 community comparison children. METHODS: The Relationship Problems Questionnaire was used to explore both RAD and DSED. All adoptive parents and institutional caregivers retrospectively reported the problems at time of placement (Wave 0), as well as the symptoms observed at the time of the study, with children aged 4-8 years old (Wave 1). At this stage, the assessment of the community comparison group was added. RESULTS: Adopted and children in residential care presented high levels of RAD and DSED symptoms at placement. For adoptees, previous experiences of abuse and neglect were marginally associated with the initial presence of RAD symptoms and a significant recovery was observed after an average of three years in their families, with a certain level of longitudinal continuity between initial and later assessments. In children currently placed in long-term residential centers in Spain, DSED symptoms worsened from W0 to W1. CONCLUSIONS: Adoption appears to be an effective intervention that promotes recovery of RAD and DSED symptomatology after early adversity, whereas institutionalization causes negative effects.

Growth and development in internationally adopted children: extent and timing of recovery after early adversity.

BACKGROUND: Following initial adversity, internationally adopted children arrive with significant growth and developmental delays. Post-placement recovery has been widely documented, but little has been known about its extent and timing several years after placement and in children with diverse pre-adoptive experiences. METHODS: A total of 289 children adopted from six countries into Spanish families were studied. Growth and psychological development were considered on arrival and after an average of over 3 years. RESULTS: Growth and developmental initial delays affected a substantial percentage of the children. Post-adoption recovery seemed quicker and more complete in weight and height than in head circumference and psychological development. Initial and later values were correlated, but growth-development relation on arrival subsequently lost significance. Most of the catch-up happened in the first three post-adoption years. CONCLUSION: Adoption offers an impressive opportunity for recovery after previous adversity, although continuity between past and present persists. The improvement is more marked in some areas than in others and more substantial in the first post-adoption years.

Adversity and Adjustment in Children in Institutions, Family Foster Care, and Adoption.

This study's objective was to identify the adversity profiles of children in different childcare placements, and to analyze their relationship with subsequent psychological adjustment. We studied a group of 230 children 4 to 10 years old indifferent childcare placements (international adoption, institutional care, non-kin foster care, and kinship care), as well as a control group. Information was collected from parent or caregiver interviews and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The results showed that children in the child welfare system had experienced significant adversity before their current placement, especially among institutional care cases and international adoptees. Meanwhile, children in kinship care had experienced less adversity (p .50 to d > .80). After a period of time in their respective placements, children's psychological adjustment was generally positive, but children living in institutional care exhibited the most problems and difficulties, followed by non-kin foster care cases (p .50 to d > .80). Finally, we found that children's early adversity levels (p < .05; r = .16), age of current placement (p < .01; r = .23), and duration of current placement (p < .05: r = -.19) were all tied to current psychological adjustment.