Young offenders caught in the act: A population-based cohort study comparing internationally adopted and non-adopted adolescents

Abstract

Empirical research has shown an elevated risk for externalizing behavior problems in international adoptees. To address the extent to which this risk exists for more serious externalizing problems we compared the rates of registered criminal offending of internationally adopted adolescents with those of non-adopted adolescents in the Netherlands. In a large population-based cohort study (N = 3,758,506 including n = 10,563 international adoptees) on Dutch youth with ages up to 19 years we examined registrations in the program on juvenile crime and in the national police system from 2005 to 2013. Controlling for time lapse and background variables we found that international adoptees had been in contact with the criminal justice system more frequently than nonadoptees. However, the findings differed across region of adoption: Adoptees from South America and from Africa had been in contact with the criminal justice system most frequently (and more often than non-adoptees), whereas adoptees from China (total n = 4569) had the least contacts (and less often than non-adoptees). The percentages of criminal offending of adoptees ranged between 1.16% and 15.83% across regions of adoption (versus 10.86% in non-adoptees). The large majority of adoptees-including those from South America and Africa-were not involved in criminal acts. We hypothesize that the higher and lower risks of criminal offending found for adoptees from certain countries are associated with the varying levels of pre-adoption adversity (e.g., neglect and abuse) that the adoptees have experienced.

Institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation of children 1: a systematic and integrative review of evidence regarding effects on development

“…113 However, unrealistic expectations for achievement in families of high social status might undermine their adoptive children's selfconfidence and negatively affect the mental health of these children. 114 The number of children from institutions placed in a single family might also affect outcomes after deinstitutiona lisation, especially if the children show institutionally associated deficits, because their special needs can overwhelm the family's resources. 115…”

Adoption in the service of child protection: An international interdisciplinary perspective.

“…Some variables are related to the degree of cognitive and socioemotional recovery after adoption: Adoptees with substantial preadoption adversity have more behavior problems than those without such experiences (e.g., Juffer & Van IJzendoorn, 2005), and intercountry adoptees from different countries of origin and backgrounds may show divergent and heterogeneous outcomes (e.g., with respect to rates of criminal offending, Van Ginkel, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2018). Adoption at older ages is associated with more problems in cognition and with EF difficulties (Helder, Mulder, & Gunnoe, 2014).…”

“…Adoptees with substantial preadoption adversity have more behavior problems than those without such experiences (e.g., Juffer & Van IJzendoorn, 2005), and intercountry adoptees from different countries of origin and backgrounds may show divergent and heterogeneous outcomes (e.g., with respect to rates of criminal offending, Van Ginkel, Juffer, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & Van IJzendoorn, 2018).…”

Matters of Significance

“…This concern is still present in current ideas about adopted children's delinquency (Smith, 2001). In fact, however, in a population-wide study we showed that criminality among adopted youth in the Netherlands did not substantively differ from their non-adopted peers (Van Ginkel et al, 2018).…”