The educational aspirations and psychological well-being of adopted young people in the UK

Abstract

Much is hypothesized but little is known about the effects of early adversity on school experience, academic attainment and career aspiration for children and young people adopted from care. Drawing on data from Wave 1 of the Youth (10-15 years old) Questionnaire (n=4899) from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), also known as Understanding Society (US), this study explored differences between young people adopted (n=22) and a matched comparison group (n=110) on measures of educational and occupational aspirations and also psychological well-being.Adopted young people reported higher externalising and total difficulties scores (based on the SDQ, Goodman, 1997) than the general population comparison group, but equivalent internalising symptoms. Adopted children were more likely to show an intention to seek full-time work at the end of compulsory schooling. These findings align with previous research regarding the psychological well-being of adopted children, contribute new knowledge about the aspirations of young people adopted from care and highlight methodological issues when utilising large scale panel survey data for narrowly defined sub-groups.

Refusal versus massive investment: Qualitative study of parenthood among adopted adults in France

“…Through these seven interviews, we also explored the reasons behind this refusal of parenthood. As our participants often felt that becoming parent would be too challenging in terms of psychological adjustment, we can surmise that adoptees' vulnerability in terms of mental health (Brown, Waters, & Shelton, 2019;Dekker et al, 2017) affects how they project themselves into parenthood, not least by damaging their self-esteem. Brenning, Soenens, and Vansteenkiste (2015) demonstrated that the degree of motivation to have children is linked to both psychological adjustment and marital satisfaction, so the absence of a desire for children among our participants may also have stemmed from weak dyadic adjustment.…”

“…Although a consensus has yet to be reached on this subject, most research so far has shown that adopted adults are at particular risk of mental health issues. They appear to be sometimes less well-adjusted than nonadopted adults (Brown et al, 2019;Dekker et al, 2017), and are potentially less securely attached (Borders et al, 2000;Feeney et al, 2007). This possible vulnerability may have an impact on their relationships, especially romantic ones.…”

Comparison of adoptees’ and nonadoptees’ experience of parenthood and mediating role of dyadic coping

“…Research on adopted adults has primarily concerned pathological disorders. For example, results indicate that adoptees have poorer mental health (Brown, Waters, & Shelton, 2019;Dekker et al, 2017;Westermeyer, Yoon, & Kuskowski, 2015) and more insecure attachment (Borders et al, 2000;Feeney, Passmore, & Peterson, 2007;Paperny, 2003) than the general population, reinforcing the image of a population at risk and justifying further investigation of adoptees' outcomes. However, as pointed out in the literature review by Palacios and Brodzinsky (2010), recent studies have also highlighted adoptees' resilience and protective factors, thereby nuancing the deficit-centered approach on this population.…”

Facial emotion recognition in adopted children

“…Although the context of the adoptive family aims to provide children with stability, protection, and a loving and stimulating environment, adverse early experiences can have profound consequences for development [6,7]. Although evidence suggests that many adopted children fare well, their experiences of early adversity places them at greater risk for developing emotional and behavioural problems that may endure in the years after they come to live with their adoptive family [8][9][10][11][12]. Developing knowledge of adoptees' cognitive and affective development has the potential to provide targets for effective intervention that support the adjustment of adopted children and their families [1,2]; however, studies that investigate specific domains of development of children adopted from public care are scarce (for exceptions see [13,14]).…”