ArticleChild abuse & neglect2022
Adoption and trauma: Risks, recovery, and the lived experience of adoption.
Article in Child abuse & neglect, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- The intergenerational transmission of reflective functioning in adoptive families: A prospective study from pre-adoption to early adolescence.Infant mental health journal · 2026Article
- Inventing inclusive care norms in the adoption of children with disabilities: coordinating routines, networks and filiation.Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P · 2026Article
- Developmental outcomes across foster care, adoption, and child welfare services: a mini review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- The moderating role of pre-adoptive reflective functioning in the association between early adversity and child difficulties after transnational adoption: a 4-year follow-up study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- After the Shock: Impact of Ectopic Pregnancy on Subsequent Fertility and Parenthood.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Mental Models of Attachment in Adoptive Parents and Children: The Case of Institutionalized and Adopted Young Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Adoption and social identity loss: Insights from adults adopted through Ireland's mother and baby homes.The British journal of social psychology · 2025Article
- A Qualitative Study of Primary Care Physicians' Approaches to Caring for Adult Adopted Patients.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Dissociative symptoms in school-aged adopted children who experienced maternal separation and disruptive caregiving in infancy.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Environmental enrichment reverses prenatal ethanol exposure-induced attention-deficits in rats.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Filial Trauma: The Experience of Adoptive Parents of Children with Complex Behavioral and Relational Problems.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2024Article
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in School-age Children: A Nationwide Prospective Birth Cohort Study.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2024Article
- The impact of early adversity on the cerebral cortex - a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Profiles of Adoptee Adjustment in Young Adulthood.Adoption quarterly · 2023Article
- Precocious puberty under stressful conditions: new understanding and insights from the lessons learnt from international adoptions and the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
- Do the Temperamental Characteristics of Both Mother and Child Influence the Well-Being of Adopted and Non-Adopted Children?Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Internalizing symptoms and use of mental health services among domestic adoptees.Children and youth services review · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough a very heterogeneous group, adopted persons may present developmental and mental health problems of varying severity. Pre-placement adversity and trauma have often been linked to these problems. It has been also suggested that adoption itself is a psychological trauma, predisposing the individual to emotional difficulties.
objectivesThis article examines the links between early adversity, trauma, and adoption. We begin by defining trauma and then describe the way in which pre-placement adversity can undermine neurobehavioral and interpersonal functioning, increasing the risk for long-term psychological difficulties. Next, we examine children's recovery when placed in a stable adoptive home. Finally, we explore adoption as a lived experience, highlighting contextual and developmental factors that facilitate the person's positive or negative attributions about being adopted, leading to varying patterns of emotional adjustment.
conclusionsAlthough pre-placement adversity increases adopted individuals' risk for maladjustment, the human brain and behavior are malleable, and placement in a nurturing adoptive home often facilitates recovery from early adversity, with significant heterogeneity in the extent of recovery within and across domains of functioning. While there is no evidence that early adoption is a trauma for the individual, ongoing negative life circumstances, attachment difficulties, and developmentally-mediated attributions about adoption can undermine the person's self-esteem, identity, relationships, and sense of well-being. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are offered.
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