Fiore, Simon;
Vliegen, Nicole;
Soenens, Bart;
Luyten, Patrick;
(2026)
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
10.1007/s00787-025-02782-x.
(In press).
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Abstract
Early adversity is associated with an increased risk for psychopathology and behavioral difficulties among transnational adoptees. Pre-adoptive reflective functioning may be an important buffer in this relationship. However, no studies have investigated this in adoptive families. Using longitudinal data from the Leuven Adoption Study (N = 48 participating families), this study investigated whether anthropometric proxies of early adversity (assessed in terms of child age, body mass index (BMI), weight for age, and length for age, based on parental reports of child weight and height at placement) predicted child difficulties assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist 4 years after child placement. The study also investigated the potential moderating role of adoptive parents’ pre-adoptive reflective functioning, as assessed by the Reflective Functioning Scale scored on the Adoption Expectations Interview. All associations were investigated controlling for the effects of child temperament, as measured by the short versions of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire or the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Results indicated that child age at placement and low BMI predicted socioemotional difficulties. Pre-adoptive reflective functioning among fathers, but not among mothers, buffered against the effect of early adversity on child socioemotional difficulties. Conversely, low paternal levels of reflective functioning were associated with greater effects of early adversity on socioemotional difficulties. This study identified fathers’ capacity for reflective functioning as a buffer against socioemotional difficulties. Implications for future research and practice, in terms of effective early interventions, are discussed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | 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 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00787-025-02782-x |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-025-02782-x |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209404 |
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