Assessments of developmental status, attachment, and behaviour problems were
conducted for 56 Romanian orphans adopted in Ontario. The group as a whole was
functioning in the normal range and was considered well adjusted, but children who
had experienced less than six months of institutional care had better outcomes than
the rest on developmental measures. The adoptees showed an unusual distribution of
attachment patterns: Secure attachment was less frequent than normally expected and
avoidant attachment was not observed. Unexpectedly, neither age at adoption nor
length of institutionalisation was related to attachment outcomes and it was
suggested that the present preschool attachment system does not adequately capture
attachment phenomena in this sample. Children who had more institution experience,
those who were developmentally less competent, and those who were insecurely
attached had more parent-reported behaviour problems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Achenbach, T.M.
, &
Edelbrock, C.S.
(1983). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised
Profile.
Burlington, VT: University of Vermont,
Department of Psychiatry
.
2.
Ainsworth, M.D.S.
,
Blehar, M.
,
Waters, E.
, &
Wall, S.
(1978). Patterns of attachment.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
3.
Ames, E.
, &
Carter, M.
(1992).
A study of Romanian orphanage children in Canada: Background, sample and procedure
. Meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association,
Quebec City.
4.
Ames, E.
,
Fisher, L.
, &
Savoie, L.
(1994).
Behaviour problems of Romanian orphanage children adopted to Canada
. Poster presented at the Meetings of the International Society
for the Study of Behavioural Development, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
5.
Andresen, I.
(1992).
Behavioral and school adjustment of 12 to 13 year old internationally
adopted children in Norway: A research note
. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33,
427-439
.
6.
Blishen, B.
(1967).
A socio-economic index for occupations in Canada
. The Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology,
4,
41-53
.
7.
Bohman, M.
, &
Sigvardsson, S.
(1980).
A prospective, longitudinal study of children registered for adoption
. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 61,
339-355
.
8.
Bowlby, J.
(1951). Maternal care and mental health.
Geneva: World Health Organisation
.
9.
Bowlby, J.
(1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment.
New York: Basic Books
.
10.
Cassidy, J.
, &
Marvin, R.S.
and
Attachment Working Group of the MacArthur Network on the Transition from
Infancy to Early Childhood
(1987, 1992). Attachment organization in three- and
four-year-olds: Coding guidelines. Unpublished manual,
Psychology Department, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA
.
11.
Chisholm, K.
,
Carter, M.
,
Ames, E.
, and
Morison, S.
(1995).
Attachment security and indiscriminately friendly behaviour in children
adopted from Romanian orphanages
. Development and Psychopathology, 7,
283-294
.
12.
Dennis, W.
(1973). Children of the creche.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts
.
13.
Fisher, L.
,
Ames, E.W.
,
Chisholm, K.
, and
Savoie, L.
(1995).
Problems reported by parents of Romanian orphans adopted to British Columbia
. Paper presented at the Canadian Psychological Association
Meetings, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
14.
Goldfarb, W.
(1943a).
Infant rearing and problem behaviour
. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 13,
249-265
.
15.
Goldfarb, W.
(1943b).
The effects of early institutional care on adolescent personality
. Journal of Experimental Education, 12,
106-129
.
16.
Goldfarb, W.
(1945).
Effects of psychological deprivation in infancy and subsequent adjustment
. American Journal of Psychiatry, 102,
18-33
.
17.
Goldfarb, W.
(1955). Emotional and intellectual consequences of
psychological deprivation in infancy: A reevaluation. In
P.H. Hoch
&
J. Zubin
(Eds.), Psychopathology of Childhood (pp.
101-199).
New York: Grune & Stratton
.
18.
Hodges, J.
, &
Tizard, B.
(1989a).
IQ and behavioral adjustment of ex-institutional adolescents
. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30,
53-75
.
19.
Hodges, J.
, &
Tizard, B.
(1989b).
Social and family relationships of ex-institutional adolescents
. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30,
77-97
.
20.
Hoksbergen, R.A.C.
(this issue).
Turmoil for adoptees during their adolescence?International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20,
33-47
.
21.
Johnson, A.
,
Miller, L.
,
Iverson, S.
,
Thomas, W.
,
Franchino, B.
,
Dole, K.
,
Kiernan, M.
,
Georgieff, M.
, &
Hostetter, M.
(1992).
The health of children adopted from Romania
. Journal of the American Medical Association, 268,
3446-3451
.
22.
Kim, P.
,
Hong, S.
, &
Kim, S.
(1979).
Adoption of Korean children by New York area couples: A preliminary study
. Child Welfare, 58,
419-427
.
23.
Marcovitch, S.
,
Cesaroni, L.
,
Roberts, W.
, &
Swanson, C.
(1995).
Romanian adoption: Parents’ dreams, nightmares and realities
, Child Welfare, 74,
936-1032
.
24.
McDade, K.
(1991). International adoption in Canada: public policy
issues.
Ottawa, ON: Studies in Social Policy, Institute
for Research on Public Policy
.
25.
Sabbagh, R. (1994). Attachment and behaviour towards strangers in
Romanian preschoolers adopted into Canadian families. Unpublished
master’s thesis, University of Toronto.
26.
Skeels, H.
(1966).
Adult status of children with contrasting early life experiences
. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,
31,
1-65
.
27.
Spitz, R.
(1956). The influence of the mother-child relationship,
and its disturbances. In
K. Soddy
(Ed.), Mental health and infant development: Vol. 1. Papers and
Discussions (pp. 103-108).
New York: Basic Books
.
28.
Tizard, B.
(1977). Adoption: A second chance.
London: Open Books
.
29.
Tizard, B.
, &
Hodges, J.
(1978).
The effect of early institutional rearing on the development of eight year
old children
. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 19,
99-118
.
30.
Tizard, B.
, &
Rees, J.
(1975).
The effect of early institutional rearing on the behaviour problems and
affectional relationships of four year old children
. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 16,
61-73
.
31.
Verhulst, F.
,
Althus, M.
, &
Versluis-den Bieman, M.
(1990).
Problem behaviour in international adoptees: I and II
. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, 29,
94-103; 104-111
.
32.
Westhues, A.
, &
Cohen, J.
(1994). Intercountry adoption in Canada: Final report.
Human Resources DevelopmentCanada, Ottawa, Ontario
.
33.
Westhues, A.
, &
Cohen, J.S.
(1995). Intercountry adoption in Canada: Predictors of
well-being. In
J. Hudson
&
B. Galaway
(Eds.), Child welfare in Canada: Research and policy implications
(pp. 266-279).
Toronto: Thompson
.
