The neurocognitive profiles of children adopted from care and their emotional and behavioral problems at home and school

ABSTRACT

Adoptees’ mental health problems in childhood and later life are well described, but little attention has been paid to domestically adopted children’s emotional and behavioral problems and neurocognitive profiles. The aim of this study was to describe the neurocognitive profiles of domestically adopted children in the UK and their parent- and teacher-rated emotional and behavioral problems. Forty-five children (M age = 75.96 months, SD = 12.98; 51.1% female) who were placed for adoption from public care at a M age of 22.14 months (SD = 14.21) completed a battery of age standardized neurocognitive tests, and adoptive parents and school teachers rated their emotional and behavioral problems. Children had more emotional and behavioral problems than the general population and over a fifth scored low (> 1 SD below the expected range for their age) in 5/6 neurocognitive tasks. Children who scored low on the non-verbal reasoning task were more likely to have more parent- and teacher-rated behavioral problems, and children’s performance on the inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility tasks were associated with parent-rated behavioral problems. Children’s verbal reasoning scores were positively associated with both parent- and teacher-rated emotional problems. Children who were adopted later in childhood scored significantly lower in non-verbal reasoning. Although longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the nature of neurocognitive functioning as a marker for later mental health problems, our findings underscore the importance of using comprehensive assessments to better recognize adopted children’s difficulties and inform appropriate intervention initiatives.

KEYWORDS:

• Adoption
• childhood
• mental health
• neurocognitive profile

Acknowledgments

Our sincere thanks go to the staff from the local authority adoption teams in Wales, who kindly assisted with contacting families, and to our research advisory group. We thank Janet Whitley, Dr. Angela Wigford and the Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit team for research assistance, and the families who took part in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by The Waterloo Foundation (Grant reference: 738/3512). The Wales Adoption Cohort Study (WACS) is funded by the Welsh Government, and was initially funded by Health and Care Research Wales, a Welsh Government body that develops, in consultation with partners, strategy and policy for research in the NHS and social care in Wales (2014-2016, Grant reference: SC-12-04; Principal Investigator: Katherine Shelton, co-investigators: Julie Doughty; Sally Holland; Heather Ottaway).