Behavioral and socio-emotional adjustment in international adoptees: A comparison between Italian and Spanish adoptive parents' reports

Dominated by intracultural comparisons between adopted and nonadopted children, adoption research has until now paid little attention to cross-cultural differences in the adoptees' behavioral and socioemotional adjustment. The present study is aimed at comparing children adopted in two different countries - Italy and Spain - and at verifying, through their parents' perceptions, the extent to which cultural context may contribute to shaping children's emotional and behavioral problems. A sample of 207 international adoptees (127 Italian and 80 Spanish) aged between 6 and 14 years was studied. The children's adjustment was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist, which was filled out by the adoptive parents. Results indicated the presence of more similarities than differences between Italian and Spanish subjects: children adopted both in Italy and Spain between 3 and 5 years old were more likely to exhibit behavior problems than were children who entered the adoptive family at any other age. Some differences related to the birth country also emerged.