Across the world, more than 40,000 international adoptions take place each year. In the United States, most of the children adopted from other countries come from China, Russia, Guatemala, South Korea, and Kazakhstan. Many of these children have had rough circumstances in the first few months or years of life - such as lack of medical care, separation from their biological parents, deprivation, neglect, abuse, or malnutrition - and these circumstances could put them at risk for during childhood. Researchers from Leiden University in the Netherlands investigated how prevalent behavior problems are among children who've been adopted.
By examining 98 medical studies about the mental and behavioral health of domestic and international adoptees published after 1950, researchers identified 25,281 children who'd been adopted and compared them to 80,260 children who weren't adopted.
In general, children who'd undergone international adoption had more behavior problems, including internalizing problems (such as anxiety and depression, withdrawal, and physical complaints like headaches or stomachaches) and externalizing problems (such as aggression, attention problems, or rule breaking), compared to their peers who hadn't been adopted. However, children who'd gone through international adoptions had fewer behavior problems than kids who'd undergone domestic adoptions, and were less likely to be referred to mental health specialists. In general, children who were neglected, malnourished, or abused before being adopted internationally tended to have more behavior problems than kids who'd been adopted internationally but hadn't been subjected to those adverse circumstances.
What This Means to You: Even though adopted kids had more behavior problems than nonadopted kids, most kids who've gone through international adoptions adjust well to their new environments and adoptive families. Before adopting a child from outside of the US, talk to a doctor or adoption counselor about the physical and mental health issues that children adopted from other countries might face. If your adopted child is having symptoms of a behavioral problem, talk to your child's doctor.
Source: Femmie Juffer, PhD; Marinus H. vanIJzendoorn, PhD; Journal of the American Medical Association, May 25, 2005
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: June 2005
