School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

Abstract

Objective: To investigate school performance of international adoptees in relation to their cognitive competence. Method: From the population of all male Swedish residents born 1973–1976, registered in the census 1985 and with complete test scores from military conscription, the following study groups were identified: Korean adoptees (n = 320), non-Korean adoptees (n = 1,125), siblings (children born by adoptive parents, n = 190) and Swedish majority comparisons (n = 142,024). Global scores from intelligence tests at conscription were compared with grade points from the last compulsory school year (year 9). Linear and logistic regression was applied in statistical analyses. Results: The mean grade points in theoretical subjects were lower in non-Korean adoptees than in the majority population, but when global test scores from military conscription were adjusted for, outcomes were significantly better, equal for physics, than in the majority population. The grade points of Korean adoptees were higher than in the majority population and the same held true after adjusting for global test scores. When SES was taken into account, the risk of poor school performance (only completed lower subject levels) increased in non-Korean adoptees compared to models only adjusted for age and sex. Conclusion: Male international adoptees generally perform better in school than expected by their cognitive competence. A cognitive evaluation is important in the assessment of adoptees with learning difficulties

School grades, parental education and suicide--a national register-based cohort study

“…The magnitude of the gradient of school grades to suicide in our study was considerably greater than the gradient found in a previous Swedish study of IQ tests at military conscription as a predictor of suicides in men 26. It has also been shown that male international adoptees generally perform better in school than expected by their cognitive competence measured as IQ test at conscription 29. This demonstrates that grades are not merely proxy indicators of IQ, although the two concepts may capture similar mechanisms.…”

Developmental Outcomes of Internationally Adopted Children

“…One study (Feigelman & Silverman, 1983) found significantly better social adjustment and academic achievement for Korean adoptees than for children adopted from Colombia or for domestic African American adoptees. Similarly, population-based studies in Sweden and the Netherlands found significantly superior cognitive outcomes for Korean adoptees relative to children adopted from other Asian countries (e.g., Thailand) and Latin America (Dalen et al, 2008; Kim, Shin & Carey, 1999; Lindblad et al, 2009; Odenstad et al, 2008). Low rates of parent-reported developmental problems have also been found among female Chinese adoptees, although history of abuse and neglect predicted more difficulties (Tan, 2009; Tan & Marfo, 2006).…”

School performance at age 16 among international adoptees: A Swedish national cohort study

“…Thus, grades from the end of primary school are an important hard measure of school performance. In two recent studies we have analyzed the relation between male intercountry adoptees' cognitive capacity measured at national conscription at age 18 and their primaryschool grades (Lindblad et al, 2009), but also in relation to their educational attainments in young adulthood . We found that intercountry adoptees had better school grades and reached higher levels of education than non-adopted male peers with the same test scores at conscription.…”