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ChildrenAdopted From China: Longitudinal Results. Tony Tan tan@usf.edu Department of Psychological & Social Foundations College of Education University of South Florida 8-8-2011. What I plan to do today:. Share the experience that led me to pursue adoption research.
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ChildrenAdopted From China: Longitudinal Results Tony Tan tan@usf.edu Department of Psychological & Social Foundations College of Education University of South Florida 8-8-2011
What I plan to do today: • Share the experience that led me to pursue adoption research. • Report findings from my longitudinal study on children adopted from China. • Discuss the implications of my research findings for orphanage care and post-adoption care.
From Personal Observations to Research • 1970s-1980s in a village in Sichuan: As a child, often heard ‘whispering’ about ‘given-away wa-wa’ (wa wa = infant). • Early 1990s in Medical School in Xi’an: First encounter with abandoned children; first learned about international adoption. • Late 1990s in Law School in Beijing: Gradually realized that adoption might be the only viable options for most of the abandoned child. • Early 2000s in Graduate School at Harvard: Realized that Korean adoptees struggled but there was little research.
Research on Chinese Adoptees • Language • Social-emotional adjustment • Academic performance • Long-term mental health outcomes
Results: Language for 1.5-3 years old. • Typically, a child adopted around one year old becomes comparable to a non-adopted age peer by age 2.5 – 3.o years in vocabulary and sentence production. • Age 2.5-3 yo: typical vocabulary size: about 250-300 words. • Language delays: About 16%.
Results: Social-Emotional Adjustment • Vast majority adjust very well: • Clinical-level maladjustment: 9-15% (norm: 18-21%). • For children with clinical-level maladjustment in 2005, 50-60% persisted into 2007, and 30-40% persisted into 2009. • Preschoolers: better than non-adopted American children; • K-12 children: similar to non-adopted American peers. • Major concerns: • attachment problems, • sleep problems; • difficulties with peer relationships (fear of loss and abandonment). • Waiting child program fares equally well.
Academic Performance • Better than non-adopted American children • Parents rated their children’s academic performance less favorably than teachers. • Example: • Parent: child is average in reading; • Teacher: child is above average in reading.
Long-term Mental Health • Unknown. • Research is ongoing. The adopted children just started entering adolescence in large numbers. • My prediction. • Likely to be good overall. • Anxiety might be prevalent (due to genetics and experience). • Depression might increase (due to co-morbidity with anxiety).
What predicts the children’s post-adoption Social-emotional development? • Age at adoption: Yes or No? • Severity of adversity before adoption: Yes or No? • Foster care before adoption: Yes or No? • Single-parent or two-parent household: Yes or No? • Parenting styles? Yes or No?
Implications • Looking at the adopted Chinese children from a deficit perspective might not be appropriate; • Improvement in orphanage care will likely help the children adapt , at least initially. • Foster care needs to be implemented meaningfully. • Parents need to address attachment and sleep issues proactively. • Parents need to vigilantly prepare/train the children to handle anxiety-provoking situations. • Monitoring development in adolescence is important.
Summary • CBCL ratings remain favorable over time; • SSRS ratings by teacher and parent are both favorable; • Indirect measures of pre-adoption adversity correlate with outcomes better than age at adoption. • Post-adoption environment also impacts adopted children’s adjustment.
Acknowledgements • Adoptive parents and their children. • Colleagues Dr. Kofi Marfo and Robert Dedrick • USF established researcher grant.
Supporting Documents • Graphs with statistical comparisons.
Age at Adoption is not a good predictor Internalizing Problems
Pre-adoption adversity is a good predictor T1: r=0.17*** Internalizing Problems T2: r=0.11*** T1: r=0.12***
Initial Adaptation to Adoption is a Good Predictor T1: r =0.22*** Internalizing Problems T2: r = 0.15*** T1: r=0.14***
Life changes since 2007 T1: r=ns Internalizing Problems T2: r=ns T1: r=ns
Authoritative parenting T1: r=ns Internalizing Problems T2: r=ns T1: r=-.14***
Authoritarian Parenting T1: r=0.14*** Internalizing Problems T2: r=0.17*** T1: r=0.29***
Social Skills Rating Systems (SSRS) • Adopted Chinese girls were more likely to be rated as having “Above Average” overall social competence by teachers than by parents. • Teacher ratings in modest-moderate agreement with parent ratings on social competence.
