Table 2.
Attachment & Parent-Child Relationships
| Study | Country of origin | Severity of deprivation | Age at assessment | N | Construct measured | Outcome measure | Age at adoption: Distribution | Age at adoption: Measurement | Statistical test | Significant effect of age at adoption? | Form of the relationship? | Relationship with other variables? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive Results | ||||||||||||
| Cederblad, Höök, Irhammer, & Merke (1999) | Multiple | — | 13–27y | 147 | presence or absence of attachment with parent or sibs | parent interview | 54% < 7m; 30% > 1y | < 1y, > 1y at adoption and < 6m or > 6m in institution | — | yes, but no statistical test | — | — |
| Gleitman & Savaya (2011) | Israel | Adequate | 11–19.5y | 169 | communication with parents | Family/Parental Relationships Family/Parental Relationships module of Student Questionnaire (self-report) | 0–9y; 57.4% < 2y, 42.6 2–9.5y | Continuous | correlation | yes | — | — |
| Tan & Marfo (2006) | China1 | Socially-emotionally Socially emotionally depriving | 1.5y–11y (retrospective) | 695 | initial rejecting behaviors (early relationship with adoptive mother) | parent interview | preschool: M = 14.2m, SD = 8.3m; school-age: M = 18.5m, SD = 23.7m | continuous, log transformed | correlation | yes | — | — |
| Tan, Marfo, & Dedrick (2007) | China1 | Socially-emotionally depriving | 1.5y–5y (retrospective) | SN = 63 Non-SN = 689 | initiala daptation to adoption (early relationship with adoptive mother) | parent interview | SN: M = 25.85, SD = 10.82; Non-SN: M = 12.71, SD = 4.87 | continuous | multiple regression | yes | — | — |
| China1 | Socially-emotionally depriving | 6y–15.7y (retrospective) | SN = 61 Non-SN = 280 | initial adaptation to adoption (early relationship with adoptive mother) | parent interview | SN: M = 46.98, SD = 37.45; Non-SN: M = 15.61, SD = 15.80 | continuous | multiple regression | yes | — | — | |
| Tan, Marfo, & Dedrick (2010) | China1 | Socially-emotionally depriving | 1.5y–5y (retrospective) | 452 | initial adaptation to adoption (early relationship with adoptive mother) | parent interview | 3–50m; M = 13.1m, SD = 5.1m | continuous, natural log transformed | correlation | yes | — | — |
| van den Dries, Juffer, van Ijzendoorn, & Bakermans-Kranenburg (2009) | Multiple | — | all ages | 17 studies, 722 participants | attachment security | various measures | — | < 12m, > 12m | Q (compared effect sizes) | yes | — | — |
| Mixed Results | ||||||||||||
| Croft, O’Connor, Keaveney, Groothues, Rutter, & the ERA Study Team (2001) | Romania | Globally depriving | 4y, 6y | 165 | parent-child relationship | coded observations: Parent Positivity, Parent Negativity, Child Positivity, Child Negativity | 52 < 6m, 586–24m, 4824–42m | continuous and < 6m, 6–24m, > 24m | correlation; multiple regression | yes; effect disappears when later-adoptees (> 24m) are removed from analyses | — | mediated by cognitive ability |
| O’Connor, Marvin, Rutter, Olrick, Britner, & the ERA Study Team (2003) | Romania | Globally depriving | 4y | 111 | attachment security | separation and reunion procedure | 58 < 6m, 597–24m | continuous and < 6m, 7–24m | chi-squared | no | — | — |
| Romania | Globally depriving | 4y | 111 | attachment organization2 | separation and reunion procedure | 58 < 6m, 597–24m | continuous and < 6m, 7–24m | chi-squared | yes | — | — | |
| Habersaat, Tessier, & Pierrehumbert (2011) | Multiple | — | 12–18y | 350 | attachment security | parent questionnaire (measure not named) | 83 < 6m, 526–12m, 4312–24m, 172 > 24m | < 6m, 6–12m, 12–24m, > 24m | — | yes, for < 6m and > 24m; no for < 12m and > 12m | — | — |
| Smyke, Zeanah, Fox, Nelson, & Guthrie (2010) | Romania | Globally depriving3 | 3.5y | 68 | attachment security | separation and reunion procedure | > 6m4 | dichotimized at various points (18m, 20m, 22m, 24m, 26m, 28m) | chi-squared | yes; only for cut-offs of 24m and later | deflection point (24m) evident | — |
| Romania | Globally depriving3 | 3.5y | 68 | attachment organization2 | separation and reunion procedure | > 6m4 | dichotimized at various points (18m, 20m, 22m, 24m, 26m, 28m) | chi-squared | yes (at all age at adoption cutoffs) | possibly linear | — | |
| Null Results | ||||||||||||
| Ames (1997) | Romania | Globally depriving | most 4.5y; some 5.5–9y | 46 | attachment security | separation and reunion procedure | 8–68m; Md = 18.5m5 | continuous5 | — | no | — | — |
| Chisholm, Carter, Ames, & Morison (1995) | Romania | Globally depriving3 | 1y5m–6y4m | 46 | attachment security | 23-item Attachment Q-sort (parent-report) | 8–68m; Md = 18.5m | continuous | correlation | no | — | — |
| Romania | Globally depriving3 | 1y5m–6y4m | 46 | parent’s attachment to child | Parenting Stress Index parent attachment subscale (parent-report) | 8–68m; Md = 18.5m | continuous | correlation | no | — | — | |
| Barcons, Abrines, Brun, Sartini, Fumadó, & Marre (2012) | Multiple | — | 8–11y | 116 | attachment security | Friends and Family Interview (self-report) | 1–103m; M = 30.61m, SD = 21.94m | < 12m, 13–36m, > 36m | chi-squared | no | — | — |
| Multiple | — | 8–11y | 116 | relationship with parents | BASC subscale (self-report) | 1–103m; M = 30.61m, SD = 21.94m | continuous | linear regression | no | — | — | |
| Cohen & Farnia (2011) | China1 | — | 8m–4y | 70 | attachment security | 23-item Attachment Q-sort (parent-report) | 18–21m; M = 13m | continuous | regression | no | — | — |
| Marcovitch, Goldberg, Gold, Washington, Wasson, Krekewich, & Handley-Derry (1997) | Romania | Globally depriving | 3–5y | 56 | attachment organization2 | separation and reunion procedure | 0–48m; 37 < 6m, 19 > 6m | — | — | no | — | — |
| Nielsen, Coleman, Guinn, & Robb (2004) | Ug and a | Various levels of deprivation | 1–3y | 33 | child’s need for physical contact with adult | observation of free play | 3m–3y; M = 1.5y, SD = .67y6 | < 1y, 1–2y, 2–3y6 | MANCOVA | no | — | — |
| Niemann & Weiss (2012) | Multiple | — | 1–2y | 22 | attachment security | 90-item Attachment Q-sort (experimenter tested) | 6–19m; M = 12.27m | continuous | correlation | no | — | — |
| Tan (2006) | China1 | Socially-emotionally depriving2 | 6–8y (retrospective) | 115 | initial rejecting behaviors (early relationship with adoptive mother) | parent interview | < 2y; M = about 9m, SD = about 4.5m | continuous | multiple regression | no | — | — |
| Tizard & Hodges (1978) | UK | Adequate | 8y | 25 | attachment security | parent interview | most 2–4y; 54.5–7.5y | — | — | no | — | — |
Note. Top section includes positive results, middle section includes mixed results, bottom section indicates null results
SN = special needs, m = months, y = years, M = mean, Md = median, SD = standard deviation, BASC = Behavior Assessment System for Children
1
The vast majority of children adopted from China are female
2
Attachment Organization refers to the distinction between MacArthur’s categories of secure (B), avoidant (A), and ambivalent-dependent (C), vs. disorganized-controlling (D) and insecure-other (I–O)
3
This article did not provide information about the conditions of these institutions, but other studies from the same authors on the same sample did describe the severity of the deprivation.
4
In this study, children moved from an institution to foster care (not an adoptive home) at this age
5
This study used time in the orphanage instead of age at adoption; these two variables were correlated at r = .97
6
This study assessed children who were still institutionalized, so duration of institutionalization was assessed rather than age at adoption