Stress in parents of adopted children

Palacios, Jesús; Sánchez‐Sandoval, Yolanda

doi:10.1177/0165025406071492

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The level of stress perceived by adoptive parents in relation to their parental role was, in the vast majority of cases, within the norm, with no significant differences between mothers and fathers. As emerged in previous studies (Ceballo et al 2004;Judge 2003;Goldberg and Smith 2014;Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval 2006), soon after placement adoptive parents reported low stress levels, even lower than those found in the normative Italian sample (Guarino et al 2008). As already suggested by Levy-Shiff et al (1991), new adoptive parents seem to experience a 'honeymoon' period: this transition appears to have fewer negative effects than it has on biological parents, possibly because years of longing make adoptive parents feel more gratified by the rewards accompanying their new status, while they tend to underestimate the difficulties of taking care of their children and interacting with them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Specifically, parents who perceive more problems with their child also display a greater stress in playing their parental role, and older adopted children are immediately perceived as more difficult and demanding. Even though age at adoption's influence might decrease in later stages (Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval 2006;SanchezSandoval and Palacios 2013), in these first stages it seems to play a significant role. Most interestingly, the RWA also highlighted the contribution of the quality of the relationship within the couple both for mothers' and fathers' parenting stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to some studies, adoptive parents report higher levels of stress than biological ones (McGlone et al 2002;Paley et al 2006;Rijk et al 2006); other studies, however, have reported lower levels of stress in adoptive parents than those found in the normative population (Bird et al 2002;Ceballo et al 2004;Judge 2003;LevyShiff et al 1990;Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval 2006). This discrepancy shows a need for further research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Predictors of Parenting Stress During Early Adoptive Parenthood

et al. 2017

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Parenting stress has a crucial influence on the parent-child relationship, the functioning of the family, and the development of children. Few studies have examined parenting stress in adoptive families during early parenthood, and fewer still have considered this issue in association with the quality of both couple and social relationships. The current study was intended to investigate predictors of parenting stress in a community sample of 56 adoptive parents from Italy, for a total of 112 participants. Our goals were to: 1) evaluate parenting stress among adoptive parents during the first postadoption year, and 2) identify whether and to what extent parenting stress can be predicted by certain characteristics of the child (gender, age at adoption, years of institutionalisation, presence/absence of disease on arrival, emotional and behavioural difficulties), of parents' individual well-being (e.g., the presence of depressive symptoms), of relationships within the couple (sexual satisfaction, tenderness between partners, quarrelling) and with the social context (real and potential social support). In the analyses parents' gender effect and intercorrelations between the partners were taken into account. Results of multiple regression analysis and relative weight analysis highlighted the great importance of children's age at adoption and their emotional and behavioural difficulties in predicting both mothers' and fathers' stress, but also the contribution of the couple relationship quality as a protective factor that could reduce the level of parenting stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Predictors of Parenting Stress During Early Adoptive Parenthood

et al. 2017

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“…Consequently, the number of families being formed this way continues to grow each year. Parents who adopt face unique circumstances and stressors as they form their families (McGlone, Santos, Kazama, Fong, & Mueller, 2002;Palacios & Sanchez-Sandoval, 2006;Weir, 2003). What follows is a brief overview of each of the eight core adoption issues that were explored in this research.…”

Section: Core Issues For the Adoptive Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Core Issues in Adoption: Individual and Marital Experience of Adoptive Mothers

2011

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“…In this process, they may also experience strains from managing the special needs of their children (McGlone, Santos, Kazama, Fong, & Mueller, 2002;Palacios & Sanchez-Sandoval, 2006) that affect their adult relationships (Gerard, Krishnakumar, & Buehler, 2006). Bird, Peterson, and Hotta-Miller (2002) cast adoptive parent help-seeking as a response to stress pile-up, and identified contributing Stressors such as adoption of an older child with a foster-care history, completion of multiple adoptions, coping that primarily employs emotional strategies, experience of a lower sense of mastery in parenting, and receipt of low levels of support from extended family.…”

Section: Families Of Children Adopted From the Child Welfare Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Couples who Adopt Children from Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know about Supporting Their Marriages

Mooradian

Hock

Jackson

et al. 2011

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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This article provides suggestions for supporting the marriages of couples who adopt children from the child welfare system. These suggestions emerged from qualitative data obtained from 22 spouses in 4 focus groups. Data reveal that couples want professionals to address the impact of adoption on the marital relationship prior to placement of children, to facilitate contact among adoptive couples that focuses on couple relationships in addition to parenting issues after children have been placed, and to actively support the marital relationship in postplacement/ postadoption services even when children's behaviors or needs constitute the presenting problem. Taken together, results indicate that it is appropriate for a broad range of professionals to address the couple relationship throughout the adoption process. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE• Professionals can address the impact of adoption on the marital relationship In preplacement and postplacement phases of adoption.• Professionals can encourage adoptive couples to form social support networks that include other adoptive couples.A lthough researchers have generated valuable knowledge about adoption and about marital relationships in a family context, these bodies of literature are not often integrated. Therefore, despite deep concern for vulnerable children and families among child welfare practitioners and administrators, as well as related professionals, research that is applicable to practice is often fragmented and difficult to synthesize. Moreover, available research often reports and packages findings in ways that render the essence of client experience inaccessible to caring professionals, and offers few practical and specific suggestions to guide transactions between professionals and parents in the context of child welfare practice.This article represents an effort to aid professionals working in adoption services, family court, child welfare, clinical family social work, couple and family therapy, pastoral counseling, pédiatrie medicine, and related fields. It centers on the value of supporting the marriages of couples who adopt children from the child welfare system, which is an important, but often overlooked aspect of adoption from child welfare. To give direct voice to a sample of these couples, their experience and suggestions are presented in their own words, and implications for professional practice throughout the adoption process are summarized.

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Stress in parents of adopted children

Cited by 48 publications

References 26 publications

Predictors of Parenting Stress During Early Adoptive Parenthood

Predictors of Parenting Stress During Early Adoptive Parenthood

Exploring Core Issues in Adoption: Individual and Marital Experience of Adoptive Mothers

What Couples who Adopt Children from Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know about Supporting Their Marriages

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