Internationally adopted children are often delayed in their development and demonstrate more behaviour problems than nonadopted children due to adverse preadoption circumstances. This is especially true for children adopted from Eastern European countries. Few studies have focused on children adopted from non-European countries. This paper presents results from an ongoing longitudinal study of 119 internationally adopted children from non-European countries during their first two years in Norway. Several scales measuring different aspects of the children’s development are included in the study: communication and gross motor development, temperamental characteristics, and behaviour problems. The results show that internationally adopted children are delayed in their general development when they first arrive in their adoptive families. After two years the children have made significant progress in development. However, they still lag behind in communication and motor skills compared to non-adopted children. The temperamental characteristics seem very stable from time of adoption until two years after adoption. The children demonstrate a low frequency of behaviour problems. However, the behaviour problems have changed during the two years. At time of adoption they show more nonphysically challenging behaviour while after two years their physically challenging behaviour has increased.
International adoptions started in Norway at the end of the 1960s, and today there are around 19 000 international adoptees in this country. Most of the children come from China, South Korea, Colombia, and Africa [
A high percentage of internationally adopted children were placed in institutions and orphanages during the first months of life. It is well documented that children placed in institutions at a very young age are exposed to a variety of negative preadoption factors. These factors may include neglect and malnutrition due to a lack of sufficient personnel to meet the needs of these children [
In the present study we examine communication and motor development as well as temperamental characteristics and behaviour problems among internationally adopted children from non-European countries during the first years in their adoptive families.
When children are adopted internationally one would expect them to be more or less delayed in their overall motor development due to their previous restricted possibilities for practicing motor skills, social interaction, and general personal comfort. Many of these children might be at risk for developmental disabilities and delays and it is therefore important to monitor them from an early age [
Findings have been quite consistent in indicating that individual temperamental characteristics such as high levels of emotionality from early age on have a clear prospective relationship to behaviour problems [
Temperament is often defined as inherited personality traits presented in early childhood and might be found among genetically similar population and species [
It is hard to describe children’s temperamental characteristics before adoption since we have very little valid information on internationally adopted children’s genetics. When they arrive in their new families, the adoptive parents are able to evaluate these characteristics as they appear in the child’s behaviour. In this study we will examine these temperamental characteristics at time of adoption and again two years later.
It is well documented that internationally adopted children exhibit more behaviour problems than non-adopted children [
All Internationally adopted children will experience a dramatic change in their lives during the adoption process. Their reactions to this change will naturally vary with their age at adoption and maybe even more with their earlier experiences in life. A child who has been in a foster home or with the biological mother for some time will have different reactions than a child who has spent the first year in orphanages without much personal contact with adults. Quite a few studies have shown that adopted children have a variety of emotional reactions on arrival due to the process they have gone through [
The present study is part of a longitudinal research project following 119 internationally adopted children from time of adoption through preschool and school years. In this article the focus is on the internationally adopted children’s communication and motor development, temperamental characteristics, and behaviour problems from time of adoption until two years after adoption. One would expect the adopted children to have some delays in their motor and language development due to the adverse pre-adoption conditions many of them have been exposed to. For the same reason adopted children will also be vulnerable to developing some kind of behaviour problems. At the same time it has been well documented that adoption has a positive effect on children’s development due to new and more stimulating environments. The specific research questions we address are as follows. Do internationally adopted children catch up in communication and motor development from time of adoption until two years after adoption? How do adopted children’s temperamental characteristics and behaviour problems change from time of adoption until two years after adoption? Which of the included variables explain most of the variance in the children’s general development at two years after adoption?
The longitudinal study started in 2007 and followed internationally adopted children from time of adoption with interviews at different age stages, play observations, and tests. This article is based on interviews with parents focusing on internationally adopted children’s development in different areas from age of adoption until two years after adoption. The study is part of a larger study following 1.159 Norwegian born children at the corresponding ages [
Selection criteria for participating in the adoption study were children adopted to Norway during 2007–2009. The child’s age at adoption should be under two years, and the families were selected from central parts of east Norway. The adoptive families were first contacted with information from the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs. A total of 178 families met the selection criteria and received information about the possibility to participate. A total of 119 families wanted to participate, giving a response rate of 67%. The 119 adopted children were compared to the total of 178 adopted children on relevant demographic variables. There were no significant differences between the children in the originally selected group and children in the participating group regarding gender, age of adoption, and country of origin.
Both the interviews at time of adoption and two years later were carried out in the adoptive family’s private homes. The interview guides were computer based and consisted of two parts. The first part of the interview was guided by the interviewer. The second part was self-instructive and included more sensitive questions related to the child’s development and the parent’s personality.
Parents completed the communication and gross motor scales of the 12-month and 24-month ages and stages questionnaire, 2nd edition (Norwegian version) [
Child temperamental characteristics were measured by using the Buss and Plomin [
Parents completed a scale measuring different transitional reactions they observed during the first month after adoption. This scale was composed in 1992 by Dalen and Sætersdal and has later been used in several adoption studies [
To compare differences between the children’s scores at time of adoption and two years later a paired sample
Within the adopted group, a series of repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to all subscales included with a 2 (Child’s gender: girl, boy) × 2 (Child’s adoption age: below and above 12 months) mixed design.
Reliability of each scale was measured for internal consistency by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (
Partial correlation analysis (Pearson’s
Communication competence was used as the dependent variable in linear multiple regression analysis to study variables explaining the variance in children’s functioning both at time of adoption and after two years. Age of adoption, gender, country of origin, transition reactions, motor development, temperamental traits, and behaviour problems were used as independent variables. Finally hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted for each of the measured variables (communication, gross motor development, temperamental traits, and behaviour problems) using scores after two years as dependent variables. Step 1 in the analysis included competence at age of adoption (autoregressors) on all scales as independent variables. Gender, age of adoption, and transition reactions were entered at Step 2.
Preliminary analyses were conducted to ensure that the residuals were normally distributed and to avoid homoscedasticity and multicollinearity.
A total of 112 internationally adopted children participated in the study both at time of adoption and two years later. The children were adopted through three different adoption agencies in Norway and consisted of 57 girls and 55 boys. The age at adoption ranged from 4 to 22 months (
Gender, age of adoption, country of origin, and transition reactions witihin the sample
Gender | % | Age of adoption | % | Country of origin | % | Transition reactions at arrival | % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Girls | 50.9 | >12 months | 58.9 | China | 30.4 | No reactions | 19.3 |
Boys | 49.1 | <12 months | 41.1 | South-Korea | 19.6 | Some reactions | 62.4 |
South-Africa | 15.2 | Great reactions | 18.3 | ||||
Colombia | 13.4 | ||||||
Ethiopia | 10.7 | ||||||
Other countries | 10.7 |
The adopted children’s scores on communication, gross motor development, temperamental traits, and behaviour problems at time of adoption and two years later are shown in Table
Differences in mean on general development (motor and communication), temperamental traits, (emotionality, activity, and shyness), and behavior problems (physically and non-physically challenging behavior) at time of adoption and at age two.
Time of adoption ( |
Age two ( |
Cohen’s |
| |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SD |
|
|
SD |
| |||
Motor and communication | ||||||||
Ages and stages3 | ||||||||
Communication | 29.22 | 16.60 | .85 | 36.13 | 14.87 | .86 | .589 | −3.385*** |
Gross motor | 36.67 | 19.16 | .95 | 42.55 | 8.55 | .56 | .360 | −3.163*** |
| ||||||||
Temperament | ||||||||
EAS emotionality4 | 2.26 | .73 | .84 | 2.42 | .70 | .82 | .310 | −2.834*** |
EAS activity level | 3.85 | .66 | .76 | 3.76 | .71 | .84 | −.193 | 1.147 |
EAS shyness | 2.33 | .70 | .76 | 2.36 | .61 | .73 | .061 | −.396 |
| ||||||||
Behavior problems5 | ||||||||
Physical challenging behavior | 2.03 | 1.06 | .54 | 2.23 | .99 | .81 | .267 | −1.983* |
Non-physically challenging behavior | 3.08 | 1.26 | .76 | 2.61 | .84 | .84 | .528 | 4.109*** |
Note. 1Reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha), 2effect size (Cohen’s
***
The adopted children have increased their skills in communication after two years compared to the time of adoption. This also applies to the children’s gross motor development. The children’s temperamental trait pattern has changed less during the two years. The children are showing more emotionality after two years than when they first arrived. Furthermore, the adopted children are showing more physically challenging behaviour two years after adoption. Many are hitting and biting parents. At time of adoption they demonstrated more non-physically challenging behaviour like having temper tantrums and anger without being physically abusive. Following the guidelines proposed by Cohen [
The ANOVA analyses documented no significant interaction effect between gender and age of adoption in the children’s scores on communication, gross motor development, temperamental traits, and behaviour problems either at time of adoption or two years on.
A significant effect of age at adoption was found for communication,
Two years after adoption a significant gender effect was found for communication, F (1,107) = 5.396,
Because of the wide age range at adoption, age was controlled for in an analysis of correlation between scores on the different variables measured at adoption and two years later. Table
Correlation and partial correlation between scores at time of adoption and at age two.
Correlation |
Partial correlation1 |
|
---|---|---|
Communication | .145 | .368*** |
Gross motor | .164 | .251** |
Physically chal. behavior | .471*** | .501*** |
Non-physically chal. B. | .432*** | .496*** |
Emotionality | .688*** | .691*** |
Activity | .430** | .462*** |
Shyness | .517*** | .507*** |
Note. 1Controlling for age at adoption.
***
A linear multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the variance in the adopted children’s communication competence at time of adoption and two years later. The independent variables of gender and country of origin were recoded into dummy variables. The results are presented in Table
Linear regression analysis at time of adoption and at age two: communication as dependent variable.
At time of adoption | At age two | |
---|---|---|
|
| |
Age at adoption | .270** | −.152 |
Gender | −.191** | −.089* |
Transition reactions | −.093 | −.144* |
Kina/Korea | .021 | −.161 |
Colombia/others | .070 | −.207 |
Gross motor development | .457*** | .357*** |
Emotionality | .015 | .001 |
Activity | −.011 | −.089 |
Shyness | .099 | .138 |
Physically challenging behavior | −.072 | −.316** |
Non-physical chal. behavior | .172 | .094 |
| ||
|
|
Note. Dependent variable: communication at age two.
***
The independent variables explain more of the variance in the children’s communication at age of adoption (65%) than two years later (38%). Gender, age of adoption, and gross motor development explained most of the variance at time of adoption. Transition reactions, gross motor development, and physically challenging behaviour had the strongest impact on communication competence two years later.
Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis for all the variables measured in the study is presented in Table
Hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting communication, temperamental characteristics, and behavior problems at age two
|
|
| |
---|---|---|---|
|
|||
Step 1 | .02 | ||
Communication (at adoption) | .15 | ||
Step 21 | .25** | .27*** | |
Gender | −.22* | ||
Transition reactions | −.18* | ||
Age at adoption | −.45** | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .02 | .10*** | |
Gross motor development (at adoption) | .15 | ||
Step 21 | .08 | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .47*** | .51*** | |
Emotionality (at adoption) | .69*** | ||
Step 21 | .04 | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .19*** | .50*** | |
Activity (at adoption) | .43*** | ||
Step 21 | .07 | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .27*** | .32 | |
Shyness (at adoption) | .52*** | ||
Step 21 | .06 | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .22*** | ||
Physically chal. Behave (at adoption) | .47*** | .35*** | |
Step 21 | .13 | ||
Gender | .18* | ||
| |||
|
|||
Step 1 | .19*** | ||
Non-physical Chal. behavior | .43*** | .26 | |
Step 21 | .08 | ||
Age at adoption | −.25* |
Note. 1Independend variables: gender, transition reactions, and age of adoption. Only significant values are presented. ***
Step 1 in all of the analyses included competence at age of adoption (autoregressor). In Step 2 age of adoption, gender, and transition reaction were added as independent variables. Country of origin did not contribute significantly to the variance in communication either at time of adoption or two years later (see Table
The results show that the children’s communication competence and gross motor development at time of adoption predicted to a fairly low degree of their performance in these areas two years after adoption. The children’s temperamental traits and their behaviour problems at time of adoption seem to be better predictors of later development.
The aim of the present study was to explore development in internationally adopted children during their first two years in their new families. The results indicate that the children do develop significantly from age of adoption until two years after adoption both in communication and gross motor competence. However, compared to non-adopted children, they still lag behind in their development [
The children’s temperamental characteristics did change in one of the measured areas; emotionality. The children showed more behaviour such as being aroused easily and intensely after two years. This can be explained by the dramatic change in life they have all been exposed to. Around 18 % of the children had a strong transition reaction at time of adoption often related to problems with sleeping and eating. After having spent more time in their new families, the children seemed to become more relaxed and secure. Being more attached and feeling safe often permit children to show more of their emotionality toward their adoptive parents. The other two areas, activity and shyness, are more stable.
The adopted children’s behaviour problems change during their stay in the adoptive family. After two years they show significantly more often physically challenging behaviour such as hitting, pushing, and throwing. At time of adoption the children were significantly less directly physically aggressive. Their challenging behaviour at that stage was more characterized by crying and being noisy and fussy. This kind of behaviour may be related to attention-seeking behaviour without annoying the parents too much. Being physically aggressive can be too challenging for the parents and can more easily provoke actions of rejection.
Children over 12 months at the time of adoption naturally score higher on communication and gross motor development. Children with a higher age at adoption also exhibited more challenging behaviour both physically and non-physically. These children were older at the time of measuring these variables, which logically explains the higher scores. It is more interesting to examine how gender and age at adoption influence the scores after two years. Age at adoption did not have a significant effect on communication at this stage. However, gender has an effect: girls score higher on communication which is in line with research on language development and gender [
The paired sample
Communicative competence is important for the development of internationally adopted children [
The regression analyses conducted at time of adoption and after two years using communication competence as the dependent variable showed that the independent variables explained more of the variance in the children’s competence at time of adoption compared to two years later. The children arrived at different ages, so their performance at time of adoption obviously was influenced by this variable. Their gross motor development also had a significant impact on communication. After two years the variable age of adoption no longer had a significant impact on the children’s communication. This is in line with conclusions from other studies showing that as adopted children grow older, their age at adoption explains less of the variation in their performance [
The hierarchical regressions conducted on different areas clearly documented that the adopted children’s general development was hard to predict from their performance at time of adoption. Many of them have spent several months in institutions which make them vulnerable to delays in their physical and psychological development. At time of adoption their life circumstances change dramatically from one day to another. Being adopted involves meeting loving and caring parents who offer the child constant attention day and night. Many studies have documented dramatic changes in adopted children’s development during the first months in their new families [
Adopted children’s communication and language development seem vulnerable to delays [
The children’s temperamental characteristics seem to be more stable and predictable. This is in line with outcomes from other studies [
The results show that internationally adopted children are delayed in their general development when they first arrive in their adoptive families. Two years later the children have made significant progress in development. However, they still lag behind in communication and motor skills compared to non-adopted children. Temperamental characteristics seem quite stable from time of adoption until two years after adoption. Internationally adopted children exhibit low frequency of behaviour problems. However, the nature of the behaviour problems has changed during the two years. At time of adoption they show more non- physically challenging behaviour while two years later their physically challenging behaviour has increased.
There are some limitations to the present study. The sample of the internationally adopted children was mostly collected from Eastern Norway, from a limited number of countries, and they had all been adopted before two years of age. These limitations make it difficult to generalize the results from the study to all internationally adopted children in Norway. Particularly important is the lack of older children in the sample.
A further limitation is that all the information is based on interviews with parents (adoptive mothers). This may lessen the objectivity of the data, since the mothers are strongly involved with their children. However, here, it is important to mention that the data will be supplemented with more objective observations and interviews and with more external informants, such as kindergarten and school teachers, when the children become older. Furthermore, in this ongoing study the father will be the key informant three years after adoption.
Since the present data form part of a larger longitudinal study following the target adopted children into early school years, there will be good future prospects of improving the limitations of the present study.
Also, since the number of adopted children is quite small, the effect sizes in some of the analysis are rather small and may give somewhat weak basis for discovering differences within the sample.
This research was supported by grants from the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion in Norway and the Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, Norway. The authors would like to thank the adoptive parents and other participants in the study.