Background to behaviour problems in internationally adopted children

Children who are adopted internationally often face unique challenges that can affect their emotional and behavioural development. These children typically experience early adversity, such as time spent in orphanages or foster care, which may contribute to difficulties later in life. When compared to non-adopted children, internationally adopted children tend to show higher levels of certain behaviour problems.

Aims of the study

The researchers wanted to investigate the long-term effects of early life challenges on children's behaviour. Specifically, they aimed to explore how pre-adoption adversity - such as poor health or developmental delays - combined with parenting stress, might contribute to behaviour problems in internationally adopted children. This longitudinal approach allowed them to track changes over time, providing insights into how early experiences shape later outcomes.

Participants and procedure

Participants

• The study involved 95 children who had been internationally adopted, along with their mothers.
• At the time of adoption, the children were aged between 4 and 18 months.
• Most children (92 per cent) came from orphanages, with the remaining 8 per cent from foster care.
• A comparison group of non-adopted children was used for benchmarking behaviour scores, though details on this group were not the primary focus.

Procedure

• Soon after the children arrived in their adoptive country, their health and developmental status was assessed. This included evaluations of physical health, cognitive development, and any delays that might stem from pre-adoption conditions.
• When the children reached seven years old, their behaviour problems were measured using two tools:
  • Dominic Interactive (DI) - A computerised self-report questionnaire for children, lasting about 15 minutes. It presents pictures of a character named Dominic and asks yes/no questions about whether the child feels, thinks, or acts similarly. This assesses common behaviour problems from the child's perspective.
  • Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) - Completed by the mothers, this questionnaire evaluates the child's behaviour problems based on parental observations.
• Parenting stress was also measured, focusing on the stress parents felt in their role, such as feelings of overwhelm or difficulty managing child behaviours.

Key results on internalising and externalising problems

The findings revealed differences in behaviour problems between internationally adopted children and their non-adopted peers. These results were based on comparisons of symptom rates and correlations between different factors.

Internationally adopted children showed higher rates in some internalising areas but lower in others:

• Specific phobias: 35.8 per cent (versus 8.1 per cent in non-adopted children).
• Separation anxiety: 24.3 per cent (versus 16.5 per cent).
• Depression: 5.9 per cent (versus 11.7 per cent, lower in adopted children).
• General anxiety: 9.8 per cent (versus 16.3 per cent, also lower).

Adopted children scored higher overall on externalising symptoms:

• Oppositional behaviour: 23.5 per cent (versus 11.9 per cent).
• Conduct disorders: 14.1 per cent (versus 8.5 per cent).

Additional correlations

• There was a significant correlation between mothers' reports (via CBCL) and children's self-reports (via DI) for externalising problems, but not for internalising ones.
• Parenting stress was positively correlated with higher scores on behaviour problems.
• The children's early health and developmental status also correlated with later behaviour problems and parenting stress.

Conclusions and implications for parenting stress

The study concluded that a child's health and developmental status at the time of adoption is linked to their potential for later behaviour problems. This is because an adopted child's condition is related to parenting stress, which in turn is associated with the child's behaviour problems. Reducing parenting stress could be crucial for improving outcomes in internationally adopted children.