Protective Influences of Families for Children Adopted From the Former Soviet Union

Mental health problems and resilience in international adoptees: Results from a population-based study of Norwegian adolescents aged 16-19 years

The aim of the study was to investigate mental health and resilience in adolescents who have been internationally adopted and their non-adopted peers and examine the potential interaction between adoption status and resilience on mental health problems. Data from the population based youth@hordaland-survey, conducted in Hordaland County, Norway, in 2012 was used. In all, 10 257 adolescents aged 16-19 years provided self-reported data on several mental health instruments. Of these, 45 adolescents were identified as internationally adopted. Adoptees reported more symptoms of depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and perfectionism than non-adopted adolescents, but there were no differences regarding resilience. Adolescents with higher resilience scores reported fewer symptoms of mental health problems, however, no interaction effects were found for adoption status and total resilience score on measures of mental health problems. Our findings indicate that knowledge of resilience factors can form the basis for preventive interventions.

Family environment and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adopted children: associations with family cohesion and adaptability

BACKGROUND

Positive family environments are crucial in promoting children's emotional and behavioural well-being, and may also buffer development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is highly heritable, but psychosocial factors in the family environment, particularly family cohesion and communication, may mediate genetic predispositions. The purpose of the current study is to examine the mediating influence of the adoptive family environment between pre-adoptive risk factors and youths' ADHD symptomatology at 14 years post adoption.

METHODS

The data used in this study were obtained from the fourth wave of the California Long-Range Adoption Study (CLAS) (n = 449). Using structural equation modelling (SEM), family sense of coherence and family adaptability were tested as possible mediators between environmental and biological predictors and ADHD symptomatology. Predictors included birthweight, gender, age at adoption, adoption from foster care, transracial adoption status, ethnicity and having a previous diagnosis of ADHD.

RESULTS

Results show that, while adoption from foster care is negatively associated with family functioning, higher family cohesion and adaptability mediate this influence on children's ADHD symptomatology. Older age of adoption directly predicts greater ADHD symptoms with no mediating influence of the family environment.

CONCLUSIONS

The mediating influence of the family environment between children's risk factors and ADHD symptoms suggests that family intervention strategies may be helpful in improving adopted children's outcomes. Once children are adopted, targeting family communication patterns and dynamics may be an additional part of developing an evidence-based, post-adoption services toolkit.

Can positive family factors be protective against the development of psychosis?

Genetic and environmental factors are both involved in the aetiology of psychotic disorders. The aim of this study was to assess if positive and negative environmental factors, together with psychotic family antecedents, are associated with the recent development of psychosis. We also investigated the interactions between family history of psychosis and positive and negative family environment. The sample comprised 110 children and adolescents, who had suffered a first psychotic episode and 98 healthy controls. All subjects were interviewed about their socioeconomic status, family history of psychosis and family environment (Family Environment Scale, FES). Early onset psychosis was significantly associated with a family history of psychosis. Family environment was perceived as more negative and less positive among patients than among controls. A negative family environment increased the risk of psychosis independently of the family history of psychosis. However, there was a significant protective effect of a positive family environment for persons with a family history of psychosis. This effect was not seen in subjects without a family history of psychosis. Therefore, our results support the importance of considering both family history of psychosis and family environment in the early stages of psychosis.

Communication and Academic Challenges in Early Adolescence for Children Who Have Been Adopted From the Former Soviet Union

Purpose

This was a Time II survey of outcomes for children, now ages 9 to 13 years, who were almost 4 years old on average when they were adopted from the former Soviet Union.

Method

As part of a larger study (see T. McGuinness, R. Ryan, & C. Broadus Robinson, 2005), parents of 55 children ( M age = 11 years) were surveyed regarding their children’s speech-language, behavior, and eligibility for special education. The children’s mean length of institutionalization was 36 months.

Results

A total of 45, or 82%, of the children had at least one special education label. The most frequent was communication disorder, which was reported for 34 children, or 62%. The frequency of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was high, 42%. The ratio of boys to girls for communication disorders and ADHD was 1.5:1. Girls who were adopted after 36 months of age were 4 times more likely than girls who were adopted before 36 months to be labeled ADHD, and children with low birth weight exhibited learning disabilities twice as often as children with normal birth weight.

Conclusion

Speech-language, learning, and attention deficits for late-adopted, early adolescent children were higher than expected. These children from the former Soviet Union experienced substantial preadoption adversity associated with lengthy orphanage stays and poor care. Gender and low birth weight were also factors.

Problem behaviors of children adopted from the former Soviet Union

INTRODUCTION

Although current meta-analyses of problem behavior of internationally adopted children exist, few children adopted from the former Soviet Union have been included in these reports. A significant concern is that 13 children adopted from the former Soviet Union have died at the hands of their American adoptive parents since 1996.

METHOD

A cohort of 105 children adopted from the former Soviet Union has been assessed at two points in time by telephone and postal surveys to measure the impact of risk and protective factors on problem behavior.

RESULTS

Pre-adoptive risk factors have declined in importance (except for birth weight) and protective factors (operationalized as aspects of family environment) have increased in influence over time. Problem behavior scores declined slightly at Time 2, despite the children having entered adolescence.

DISCUSSION

Families play a significant role in the behavior of children adopted from the former Soviet Union. Nurses should counsel families to shape the child's environment during the transition from orphanage to homes in the United States, especially for children who are low birth weight.

International adoption as a natural experiment

International adoption research has been called a natural experiment by many child development researchers. How do studies of severe early deprivation inform us about risk factors experienced by many of these children and their impact on developmental outcomes? Three longitudinal studies conducted by British and American researchers in the 1990s are reviewed. Each year, over 20,000 children are adopted from overseas, and a significant number are now entering adolescence; the impact of their prenatal risk factors, early institutionalization, and ameliorative postadoptive environments is also reviewed. The feasibility of generalizing findings to other children in foster care is also addressed.