Observational studyBMJ open2018
Adult psychosocial outcomes of men and women who were looked-after or adopted as children: prospective observational study.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental disorders among adults formerly in out-of-home care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- State care in childhood and adult mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.The Lancet. Public health · 2022Pooled it
- Associations between dysfunctional parental discipline and parent-reported mental health outcomes in preschoolers: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Mortality outcomes of children and young people who have spent time in care: evidence from Children's Health in Care in Scotland, a population-wide administrative data cohort study.Archives of disease in childhood · 2025Article
- The feasibility and acceptability of delivering a group trauma-focused intervention to children in care.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2025Article
- Receipt of social services intervention in childhood, educational attainment and emergency hospital admissions: longitudinal analyses of national administrative health, social care, and education data in Wales, UK.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The Development of Young Peoples' Internalising and Externalising Difficulties Over the First Three-Years in the Public Care System.Child maltreatment · 2023Article
- Psychological wellbeing in adult adoptees: current age and developmental tasks.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders and their impact on the health and social well-being among looked after children (LAC): a systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2022Article
- Measurement invariance of the short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and latent mean differences (SWEMWBS) in young people by current care status.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Experience of child welfare services and long-term adult mental health outcomes: a scoping review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2021Article
- Options for acquiring motherhood in absolute uterine factor infertility; adoption, surrogacy and uterine transplantation.The obstetrician & gynaecologist : the journal for continuing professional development from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists · 2021Review
- Improved Intelligence, Literacy and Mathematic Skills Following School-Based Intervention for Children in Foster Care.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate whether men and women who were looked-after (in public care) or adopted as children are at increased risk of adverse psychological and social outcomes in adulthood. DESIGN,
settingProspective observational study using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which recruited pregnant women and their male partners in and around Bristol, UK in the early 1990s.
participants8775 women and 3654 men who completed questionnaires at recruitment (mean age: women 29; men 32) and 5 years later. EXPOSURE: Childhood public care status: looked-after; adopted; not looked-after or adopted (reference group). OUTCOMES: Substance use (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco) prepregnancy and 5 years later; if ever had addiction; anxiety and depression during pregnancy and 5 years later; if ever had mental health problem; social support during pregnancy; criminal conviction.
resultsFor women, 2.7% were adopted and 1.8% had been looked-after; for men, 2.4% and 1.4%, respectively. The looked-after group reported the poorest outcomes overall, but this was not a universal pattern, and there were gender differences. Smoking rates were high for both the looked-after (men 47%, women 58%) and adopted (men 44%, women 40%) groups relative to the reference group (both 28%). The looked-after group were at increased risk of a high depression score (men: 26% vs 11%, OR 2.9 (95% CI 1.5 to 5.6); women: 24% vs 9%, 3.4 (2.2 to 5.0)). A high anxiety score was reported by 10% of the reference women, compared with 26% of those looked-after (3.0 (2.0 to 4.5)) and 17% of those adopted (1.8 (1.2 to 2.6)). Looked-after men and women reported the lowest social support, while criminal convictions and addiction were highest for looked-after men. Adjustment for adult socioeconomic position generally attenuated associations for the looked-after group.
conclusionsThe needs of those who experience public care as children persist into adulthood. Health and social care providers should recognise this.
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