Attachment and Behavioural Difficulties in Internationally Adopted Russian Children

Lana Farina, Myra Leifer and Ira J Chasnoff assess the impact of institutionalisation and parenting stress on the quality of attachment and behavioural difficulties among Russian children adopted by US families. Some children had been diagnosed with an Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND) or mild developmental delays. Twenty-nine families completed a Demographic Questionnaire, Attachment Security Questionnaire, Child Behaviour Checklist and Parenting Stress Index. It was found that parenting stress was significantly correlated with insecure attachment and increased child behavioural difficulties and attachment insecurity was significantly correlated with the severity of behaviour problems. Length of institutionalisation and age at adoption did not correlate with parents' perceptions of their attachment relationships with their children or the severity of their children's behaviour problems. No differences were found with regard to gender or diagnosis of ARND.