[Internationally adopted children's psychosocial adjustment in internationally adopted children: personal and...

To assess psychosocial adjustment in middle childhood in internationally adopted children in Spain.

One hundred and one internationally adopted children (67% girls), aged 8 to 12, and their adoptive parents (97 mothers and 67 fathers) completed the Behaviour Assessment System for Children (BASC). Descriptive analyses and mean comparisons (Student's t test and ANOVA) were conducted to test for gender, age at adoption, current age and area of origin differences for each informant on the scales and composite-scales of the BASC. Multiple linear regression analyses were then performed. Agreement between mothers and fathers was calculated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Percentages of children in the normal and symptomatic range in composite-scales were compared to the theoretical ones using chi square tests.

The results showed that children were generally well-adjusted, regardless of the informant. Differences were found in children's adjustment by area of origin, gender and current age, although values remained within the normal range. The ICC ranged from 0.46 (satisfactory) to 0.84 (excellent). Compared to the normal-group, more children showed difficulties in adapting to school (24.8%; as reported by children), externalising problems, (27.8% and 28.3%; as reported by mothers and fathers, respectively), and behavioural and adaptive difficulties (28.4% and 29.9%, respectively; as reported by fathers).

About 25% of the internationally adopted children showed adaptive difficulties in basic areas, clearly identified using the BASC, which need psychological and paedological support.