We asked parents about behavioral and emotional challenges they believed that their internationally adopted children experience. Then, we tested whether there were any differences in reported levels of behavioral and emotional challenges based on their child’s gender and the age of adoption.
As the figure illustrates, parents who adopted a male child reported higher levels of behavior challenges, such as acting out, fighting, bullying, or arguing, than parents who adopted a female child. However, there was no difference in feeling anxious or depressed.
When behavior problems were examined based on the age of adoption, parents who adopted a child older than three years old reported higher levels of child’s behavior problems, compared to parents who adopted a child younger than one year old or between one and three years old. However, there was no difference in feeling anxious or depressed based on the age of adoption.