Internationally adopted children’s cognitive and social-emotional development during the first post-adoption year: A longitudinal study.

Research is consistent in showing that international adoption is an intervention\r\nleading to great recovery for adopted children, but there is a need of research\r\non factors associated with recovery. The present study is aimed at: (a) assessing\r\nchildren’s cognitive skills and social-emotional dimensions on their arrival to their\r\nnew family; (b) evaluating their development after one year; (c) identifying which\r\nfactors influence development, taking into account children’s gender, age, health\r\nstatus on arrival, years of institutionalization, and the initial psychological delay.\r\nParticipants were 53 internationally adopted children (30 boys and 23 girls), aged\r\n5.68 years old on average at placement (range 2–14). Results showed that children’s\r\ndevelopment one year after adoption was extraordinary, both in cognitive skills\r\nand in social-emotional dimensions. The children more delayed on arrival showed\r\nthe larger progress over time, and their recovery was greater in cognitive skills\r\nthan in social-emotional dimensions.