Adoptive Families: Psychological Adjustment and Emotional Regulation in Adolescents and Their Mothers

Adolescence is a phase of increased psychological vulnerability and risk for psychosocial adjustment of adoptees and their adoptive families, even though literature reported controversial findings on adoptive parents’ resources. Despite in some studies adoptive mothers showed greater psychological resources, they also were found at risk of parental stress. Potential factors related to psychological adjustment are the Emotion Regulation strategies (ERs; Gross, 2003): Cognitive Reappraisal (CR), which seems to be a protective factor, and Expressive Suppression (ES), associated to long-term negative outcomes. Research in non-adoptive adolescence showed both a mother-child concordance in psychosocial adjustment and in ERs, but up to now no study has investigated these associations in adoptive families. This study aimed at investigating the concordance of psychological adjustment and ERs in 46 adopted adolescents (aged 11-17, M=13.50, SD= 1.59; 50% males) and their adoptive mothers (aged 44-59, M = 50.9, SD = 4.05). Participants were recruited for a larger adoption longitudinal study through Agencies for International Adoption and Social Services. Psychological adjustment was assessed in adolescents by Child Behaviour Checklist 6/18 (CBCL 6/18) and in mothers by Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). ER strategies were assessed by Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, for adolescents (ERQ-CA) and mothers (ERQ). Results showed significant mother-adolescents associations concerning psychological adjustment (r=.45, p=.004) but not ERs. Regression analysis showed that adolescents’ CR scores (p=.027) and maternal global index of adjustment (SCL-90-R/GSI) were predictors of adolescents’ externalizing problems (R2=379, p=.009). Authors discuss the clinical implication and the positive effects for adolescent adoptees’ well-being, in increasing their CR abilities and maternal psychological adjustment, with the support of mental health services for adoptive families.