Psychosocial Differences in Postinstitutionalized, Internationally Adopted Children and Other Groups of Children Referred for Clinical Services.

摘要

Thousands of children are adopted into the United States each year, many of whom have spent a substantial portion of their preadoptive lives in an institutional setting. Reflecting the developmental challenges of institutional rearing, postinstitutionalized (PI) children adopted into the United States are referred for mental health services at higher rates than other groups of children. Yet little research has examined differences in clinically referred PI children and other groups. Guided by attachment theory, the purpose for this nonexperimental study was to address this gap in knowledge. The research questions examined psychosocial differences in clinically referred, PI, adopted children and 2 comparison groups of clinically referred children: international adoptees who experienced no or limited institutionalization (IA) and domestic adoptees (DA). Results from a MANCOVA and follow-up pairwise contrast analysis, using archival data gathered from an outpatient clinic in Minnesota, found significant differences only between PI and DA. Specifically, DA exhibited poorer functioning in the areas of attention problems and social problems. Mean scores were above the 85th percentile for all indicators for all groups, indicating the severity of psychosocial problems for the sampled group of clinical referrals. More research is needed that compares psychosocial problems of PI children who are not in the extreme range. The findings from this study can be used to inform future research into differences in psychosocial functioning between clinically referred, adopted children. Such use contributes to social change by supporting the development of targeted mental health services for adopted children and aiding parents of PI children in the evaluation of mental health services.