Emotional & Behavioral Difficulties in Internationally Adopted Adolescents in 4 European Receiving Countries: Mother-Child Perceptions and Relation to Special Needs

Many international adoptees have medical, behavioral, and/or educational special needs (SN). Mother-adolescent perceptions of adolescent emotional-behavioral difficulties in the presence or absence of adolescent SN were examined in 324 mother-adolescent dyads in 4 European receiving countries, using sociodemographic questionnaires and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). As reported by both mothers and adolescents, the presence of SN predicted higher SDQ problem scores, but not Prosocial Skills. The agreement of SDQ scores between mothers and adolescents was higher in the presence of SN. Implications for future research and intervention will be discussed.