Development after international adoption

Author(s):
Dries, L. van den
Published
2010
Publication type
Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

This thesis examined the development of adopted children to shed more light on the effects of deprivation on child development and the potential for catch-up and recovery after placement in the more advantageous environment of an adoptive family. In the first part of the thesis a meta-analysis is presented in which we compared adopted children’s attachment relationships with the normative attachment distribution of nonadopted children raised by their biological parents, and - as a comparison - we also compared the attachment distribution of foster children with the normative distribution. The second and third parts of the thesis focus on the development of former foster and post-institutionalized children, 11 to 16 months old at arrival, two and six months after their adoption from China. Several salient developmental domains were studied: attachment, cognitive and motor development, physical growth, stress regulation, and social-emotional behavior.

AdoptionFoster careInstitutional careAttachmentMotor developmentPhysical developmentCognitive developmentStress regulationMeta-analysis
Defense date
2010-10-27
Language
English
Supervisor(s)
Juffer, F.; IJzendoorn, M.H. van; Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J.
Committee member(s)
-
Qualification
Ph.D.
Degree granting institution
Child and Family Studies (AGPD), Department of Education and Child Studies, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden
hdl
1887/16079

Juridical information

Court
LEI Universiteit Leiden

Funding

Sponsorship
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO 400-03-208). Additional support was received from Wereldkinderen, and for the meta-analysis described in Chapter 2 from VSBfonds, Fonds Psychische Gezondheid, and Stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland.