Adoptive Families Project

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的目的是研究国际收养儿童及其家庭的适应结果。目前的研究表明，IA儿童可能存在发育、医疗和行为困难的风险。儿童和家庭因素对结果的相互影响尚未得到充分研究。本项目拟通过收养父母在四个时间点完成的一系列书面调查来研究国际收养中的家庭和儿童适应。家庭是通过专门从事国际收养的机构征聘的。时间0的数据是在家庭第一次去见他们未来的孩子之前收集的。这些问题侧重于收养前的家庭适应，包括婚姻满意度、支持性家庭和友谊网络、社区参与、家庭结构和人口统计以及父母心理症状。此外，第一次评估包括关于收养的动机和期望，收养前的准备工作，以及关于未来被收养孩子的信息。随后的评估将在安置后6、12和24个月进行。这些调查的问题将包括养育困难、婚姻满意度、被收养儿童的健康、发展和行为指数，以及父母认为他们的希望和期望得到满足的程度。该项目的具体目的如下：1)研究收养家庭的收养前特征及其与儿童特征的关系；2)测试影响的交易模型，其中儿童被收养前的特征（例如，被安置的年龄、原籍国）与家庭和生态变量相互作用，以预测收养后的结果；3)确定结果的潜在调节因子；4)确定与儿童和家庭适应结果个体和群体差异相关的潜在结果调节因子。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to study the adjustment outcomes of internationally adopted (IA) children and their families. Current research indicates that IA children may be at risk for developmental, medical, and behavioral difficulties. The reciprocal influences of child and family factors on outcomes have been understudied. This project proposes to study family and child adjustment in international adoption through a series of written surveys that adoptive parents will complete at four time points. Families have been recruited through agencies specializing in international adoptions. Time 0 data are collected just prior to the time that families first travel to meet their perspective child. These questions focus on pre-adoptive family adaptation, including marital satisfaction, supportive family and friendship networks, community involvement, family structure and demographics, and parent psychological symptoms. Additionally, the first assessment includes questions about motivations and expectations for adoption, pre-adoption preparation, and information about the prospective adopted child. Subsequent assessments will be conducted at 6, 12, and 24 months post placement. Questions on these surveys will include indices of parenting distress, marital satisfaction, health, development, and behavior of the adopted child, and the degree to which parents felt their hopes and expectations have been met. The specific aims of the project are as follows: 1) to examine the pre-adoptive characteristics of adopting families and their relationships to child characteristics; 2) to test a transactional model of influence in which pre-adoptive characteristics of children (e.g., age at placement, country of origin) interact with family and ecological variables to predict post-adoptive outcomes; 3) to identify potential mediators of outcome and 4) to identify potential outcome moderators associated with individual and group differences in adjustment outcomes for children and families.