Ninety-one parents of 120 adopted Romanian children who were part of a longitudinal study were surveyed to determine perceptions of their relationships with their children, their adoption experiences, and the children's strengths. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) was used and parents were easily able to rate their children's emotional and behavioral strengths. Levels of parentchild relationship satisfaction were the most consistent predictors of child emotional and behavioral strength. The child's age at the time of the survey was a significant predictor of strengths, indicating overall that younger children had more perceived strengths. Parents identified fewer strengths among children with longer histories of institutional care. The importance of a strong parent-child relationship and resilience after a history of early institutional care are discussed.

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Studies that attempt to models stress have been limited by the ambiguity surrounding the stress concept. To address this conceptual lacuna, this article proposes a new approach to conceptualizing stress. Through a historical survey of ideas relating to stress, clarity will be brought to the conception of stress through a synthesis of insights on the nature of stress arousal, particularly focusing on the dynamic of generation of stress in the mind. Stress, resulting from both positively and negatively appraised events, is experienced in proportion to the certainty with which we assess an impact to something to which we have attachment (Sanskrit, upãdãna ), whether physical or ideological. Ultimately, this ancient conception of the psychological dynamic of stress has borne fruit in philosophy, religion, and psychotherapy, making it a sound candidate for a fundamental psychological conception of stress.