Internationally adopted children's general and adoption‐specific stressors, coping strategies and psychological adjustment

Abstract

A B S T R AC TWe examined stress, coping and psychological adjustment of 68 children, aged 8-12, who were internationally adopted to Spain. Using the Kidcope, all children were asked about the most stressful general and adoption-related problem they experienced and the use and effectiveness of various coping strategies when dealing with the problem. For all reported problems, the nature of the problem (personal, interpersonal, regarding others), the content, the degree of stress it created and its perceived controllability were analysed. Emotional and behavioural functionings were assessed with the Behaviour Assessment System for Children. About half of the children mentioned specific problems concerning the adoption, with inracial adoptees reporting less adoption-related problems than transracial adoptees. For general and adoption-related problems, interpersonal problems were mentioned most often. With regard to the content, 'relationships' and 'victimization' were mentioned most often for general and adoption-related problems, respectively. Adoptionrelated problems were appraised as less controllable. No differences emerged in terms of coping with general or adoption-related problems except for 'self-criticism'. Overall, the children used many coping strategies and were generally well-adjusted. Identifying the problems and coping strategies of adoptees is important in order to help these children and their families tackle these stressors. I N T R O D U C T I O NSpain is the second country in the world, after the US, in terms of number of internationally adopted children (Selman 2009). In Spain, both international and domestic adoptions coexist, although the former are considerably more preponderant than the latter (Palacios & Amorós 2006). At their peak in 2004, the number of intercountry adoptions reached up to 5541. Despite a sharp decline since then, following the downward trend for most receiving countries, the number of children adopted internationally is still significant (Selman 2009 Spain, research in this area is limited, especially for children in middle childhood. In Spain the population of adoptees in middle childhood and adolescence is still rather small, as international adoption only started in 1996, after the ratification of the Hague convention. In recent years, the first studies on the psychological adjustment of this subgroup have started to appear (e.g. Barni et al. 2008;Reinoso & Forns 2011;Barcons-Castel et al. 2011), but research focussing on adoptees' own experiences is still lacking. There are, however, a few exceptions. In a previous study on the current sample we explored the perceptions of adoption for the first time (Reinoso et al. 2013). The present paper complements our previous work by examining stress, coping and psychological adjustment of these children. Stress in adopted childrenAdopted children often experience hardship at the beginning of their lives, including separation from their biological parents, institutional rearing, malnutrition, deprivation, insufficient medical ...

Stressors and Coping Strategies of Institutionalized Adolescents at Minia Governorate

“…These results suggested that institutionalized adolescents use the most useful strategies and this can be a predictor of positive psychological adjustment. This result was consistent with (36) who found that the most commonly used strategies by internationally adopted children are cognitive restructuring, problem solving, wishful thinking, express emotion, and social support more frequently.…”

Coherent lives: Making sense of adoptees’ experiences in education through narrative identity

“…Reluctance on the part of children to reveal their adoptive status to peers may be due in part to previous experiences of a negative reaction following disclosure. Several studies have reported how negative reactions to adopted status manifest in peers’ responses, including teasing, jokes, intrusive questioning and rejection (Baden, 2016; Neil, 2012; Reinoso et al, 2016). Despite a growing acceptance of adoption as way of forming a family, negative sociocultural interactions still occur for adopted individuals and families (Garber, 2020), and may contribute to misunderstandings and misperceptions of adoption.…”

Exploring the association between adoptive parents’ attachment orientations and adoptees’ emotional and behavioral difficulties: The role of parents’ self-compassion and mindful parenting

“…Although most adoptees seem to eventually adjust well to these preplacement hardships, adopted children continue to be overrepresented in mental health settings (Brodzinsky, 1990;Juffer & van Ijzendoorn, 2005), and some con icting results persist regarding the reparative effect the adoption itself may have on these outcomes (Brodzinsky et al, 2022). Adoptive parenthood appears to positively contribute to adopted children's emotional and behavioral development (Askeland et al, 2017;Finet et Reinoso et al, 2013). However, few research has been done on the mechanisms through which this impact occurs, and none considers the potential role of adoptive parents' attachment orientations, self-compassion and mindful parenting in adoptees' adjustment.…”