Tony Xing Tan

School-age adopted Chinese girls' behavioral adjustment, academic performance, and social skills: longitudinal results.

Longitudinal data on 177 school-age adopted Chinese girls (Time 1: mean age = 8.92 years, SD = 1.76; Time 2: mean age = 11.18 years, SD = 1.79) were analyzed to determine their long-term outcomes in behavioral adjustment, academic performance (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18), and social skills (measured with the Social Skills Rating System) and how these outcomes were related to preadoption adversity. More than 90% of the girls were adopted at 24 months or younger (M = 19.25, SD = 21.67). Results revealed that over a 2-year period, there was a moderate to strong stability in the childrens behavioral adjustment and academic performance. However, there was a significant increase in the number of children with deviant internalizing problems. At both times, higher degrees of preadoption adversity were related to more internalizing problems and poorer academic performance. Children who were adopted at older ages had poorer academic performance. Children who were older had a lower level of assertion and a higher level of responsibility. Childrens attention problems at Time 1 mediated the effect of preadoption adversity on academic performance at Time 2.

Factor structure of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 in a sample of girls adopted from China

Confirmatory factor analysis with robust weighted least squares estimation of the 103 dichotomously scored items of the Child Behavior Checklist/6-18 (T. M. Achenbach & L. A. Rescorla, 2001) in a sample of 516 girls adopted from China (ages 6.0-15.7 years; M = 8.2, SD = 1.9) indicated that the fit of the 8-factor model was good (root-mean-square error of approximation = .047) and was slightly better than what T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorla (2001) reported for the same model (.06). Support for the 2nd-order factor structure of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems also was provided. Comparisons of the mean scores for the syndromes and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems revealed mostly small differences between the sample of adopted Chinese girls and T. M. Achenbach and L. A. Rescorlas normative samples.

Major depression in China-to-US immigrants and US-born Chinese Americans: Testing a hypothesis from culture–gene co-evolutionary theory of mental disorders

BACKGROUND In this study, the culture-gene co-evolutionary theory of mental disorders was used to test the hypothesis that major depression was less prevalent in China-to-US immigrants who migrated to the US as adults than in US-born adult Chinese Americans. METHODS Data from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES) were extracted for secondary data analyses on the rates of major depression disorder (MDD) and major depressive episode (MDE) in the two groups. RESULTS Findings showed that for life time MDD, the rates for China-to-US immigrant and US-born Chinese were 5.3% and 7.9% for men and 8.5% and 33.1% for women. For 12-month MDD, the corresponding rates were 2.2% and 3.4% for men, and 4.7% and 12.6% for women. For life time MDE, the corresponding rates were 6.8% and 8.8% for men; for women the rates were 8.5% and 33.1%. For 12-month MDE, the rates were 2.2% and 4.4% for men; the rates were 4.7% and 12.6% for women. Controlling for age, education level, income, BMI, marital status, and income-to-needs ratio, China-to-US immigrant women remained less likely to have life time major depression than US-born Chinese American women. LIMITATIONS While the study has the strength of utilizing nationally representative datasets, the approach is limited as the data sources lack the capacity to investigate how the strength of connection with the collectivist culture might be related to major depression in the immigrant group.

Behavioral Adjustment of Adopted Chinese Girls in Single-Mother, Lesbian-Couple, and Heterosexual-Couple Households

This study compared the behavioral adjustment of girls from families headed by single mothers and lesbian couples with their peers from married heterosexual households. The sample included 93 Chinese girls adopted by the three types of families (31 girls in each type of family). The girls in the three types of families were matched on age at adoption, age at assessment, and number of adoptive siblings. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to measure their behavior adjustment (i.e., internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and overall behavioral problems). General linear modeling revealed that children from the three types of families were not statistically different in behavioral adjustment except in the preschool-aged groups internalizing problems and the school-aged groups externalizing problems, wherein children in single-mother households scored lower than their peers from lesbian-couple households. Psychological and social-political implications are discussed.

Preschool-Age Adopted Chinese Girls’ Behaviors That Were Most Concerning to Their Mothers

Childrens behavioral difficulties are a major source of parental concern. The goals of the current study were to (1) describe preschool-age adopted Chinese girls’ behaviors that were most concerning to their adoptive mothers and (2) examine the relation between childrens concerning behaviors and parent/child demographics. Qualitative data from 422 mothers on 480 adopted Chinese girls (M = 44.2 months, SD = 15.2) were collected using three sequenced methods (i.e., open-ended question, follow-ups, and a focus group discussion). These girls were adopted at 3 to 60 months of age (M = 13.8, SD = 8.0) and had lived in the adoptive homes for at least 6 months (M = 30.2, SD = 14.4). Data analysis showed that 242 (57.3%) mothers (representing 274 girls) reported one to three concerning behaviors per child (total = 323 concerns), including behaviors that indicated attachment problems (107 or 33.1%), poor social skills (46 or 14.2%), language/speech problems (42 or 13%), sleep problems (29 or 9%), health/physical problems (24 or 7.4%), and problems in other areas (e.g., potty training) (75 or 23.2%). Further analysis showed that the mothers with prior experience of raising adopted children, but not biological children, were more likely to report concerning attachment behaviors than first-time mothers.

Impact of Biological Children's Adjustment on Their Siblings Who Were Adopted From China

ABSTRACT This study investigated how biological childrens adjustment influenced the adjustment of their younger siblings who were adopted from China. It included 40 families with 40 biological children (average age, 7.9 years; SD = 2.3) and 40 adopted Chinese children (average age, 3.5 years; SD = 2.0). Data provided by the adoptive mothers showed that the biological childrens average age was 5.3 years (SD = 3.0) when the adopted children arrived. While 95% of the adopted children and 40% of the biological children were girls, both groups of children showed favorable adjustment (as measured with the Child Behavior Checklist). The adopted childrens adjustment was influenced by the adjustment of the biological children if they showed rejecting behaviors toward the adoptive mother initially and had difficulty adjusting to the biological children early on. The magnitude of the effect, however, was small.

Preadoption adversity and long-term clinical-range behavior problems in adopted Chinese girls.

In this study, we report findings on the role of preadoption adversity on long-term clinical-range problems in adopted Chinese girls. Four waves (2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011) of problem behavior data on 1,223 adopted Chinese girls (M = 4.86 years, SD = 2.82 in 2005) were collected from the adoptive mothers with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). At Wave 1 (2005), data on the following indicators of preadoption adversity was collected: age at adoption, physical signs/symptoms (e.g., sores) of preadoption adversity, developmental delays at arrival, refusal/avoidance behaviors and crying/clinging behaviors toward adoptive parents during the first 3 weeks of adoption. We found that the percentage of clinical-range internalizing problems was 11.1%, 16.5%, 11.3%, and 16.1% at Wave 1, Wave 2, Wave 3, and Wave 4, respectively; the corresponding percentage of clinical-range externalizing problems was 8.4%, 10.5%, 8.4% and 9.9% respectively; and the corresponding percentage of clinical-range total CBCL problems was 9.3%, 13.0%, 9.8% and 12.6% respectively. Analyses with Mplus showed that controlling for demographic variables, indicators of preadoption adversity, except age at adoption, increased the odds for clinical-range behavior problems. Longitudinal path models revealed that controlling for demographic variables and the childrens adjustment status in the previous wave, refusal/avoidance remained significant in predicting clinical-range internalizing, externalizing and total CBCL problems at Wave 2, delays at arrival and signs/symptoms were significant in predicting clinical-range internalizing problems at Wave 3. Overall, adoptees with clinical-range CBCL problems in earlier waves were 9-28 times as likely to show clinical-range CBCL problems in subsequent waves.

A Multilevel Bifactor Approach to Construct Validation of Mixed-Format Scales.

Wording effects associated with positively and negatively worded items have been found in many scales. Such effects may threaten construct validity and introduce systematic bias in the interpretation of results. A variety of models have been applied to address wording effects, such as the correlated uniqueness model and the correlated traits and correlated methods model. This study presents the multilevel bifactor approach to handling wording effects of mixed-format scales used in a multilevel context. The Students Confident in Mathematics scale is used to illustrate this approach. Results from comparing a series of models showed that positive and negative wording effects were present at both the within and the between levels. When the wording effects were ignored, the within-level predictive validity of the Students Confident in Mathematics scale was close to that under the multilevel bifactor model. However, at the between level, a lower validity coefficient was observed when ignoring the wording effects. Implications for applied researchers are discussed.

East Meets West: Adopted Chinese Girls’ Nighttime Sleep Problems and Adoptive Parents’ Self-Judgment about Parenting

We investigated the association between adopted Chinese girls’ nighttime sleep problems and adoptive parents’ self-judgment about their parenting. The girls were 1.7–6.9 years old (M = 4.6 years, SD = 1.0) and were adopted at 7–56 months (M = 13.9 months, SD = 6.6) by families in North America. At Wave 2 of a longitudinal study on adopted Chinese children’s development, the adoptive parents provided survey data on bedtime resistance or anxiety and parasomnias in their daughters and their own parental sense of entitlement and parenting competence. Results showed that controlling for child and family demographics, parasomnias, but not bedtime resistance or anxiety, negatively predicted parental sense of entitlement (B = -.13, p < .01) and parenting competence (B = -.14, p < .01).

Developmental Delays at Arrival, Early Intervention Enrollment, and Adopted Chinese Girls’ Academic Performance and Internalizing Problems in Adolescence

ABSTRACT The author investigated the extent of developmental delays in girls adopted from China, their subsequent early intervention (EI) enrollment, and how the delays and EI were related to their academic performance and internalizing problems in adolescence. The sample included 180 adolescent girls (M = 13.4 years, SD = 2.0 years) who were adopted at 3–23.5 months (M = 11.5 months, SD = 3.7 months). Data on the adopted Chinese girls’ delays at arrival and EI enrollment in physical therapy (PT) and speech–language therapy (SLT) were collected from the adoptive mothers at the Baseline; data on the adopted Chinese girls’ present academic performance and internalizing problems were collected from the adoptive mothers and adopted girls at Wave 4 six years later. Data analyses revealed that 55% of the adoptees had moderate-to-severe delays when first arrived at the adoptive homes. Motor delays significantly increased the odds for PT (odds ratio [OR] = 3.98, 95% CI [2.18, 7.82], p <.001) and SLT (OR = 2.36, 95% CI [1.50–3.72, p <.001). Social-cognitive delays also significantly increased the odds for PT (OR = 1.90, 95% CI [1.36, 2.63], p <.001) and SLT (OR = 1.63, 95% CI [1.22, 2.17], p <.001). Motor delays were negatively associated with academic performance but positively associated with internalizing problems. General linear modeling showed that the adoptees who had developmental delays at arrival and subsequently enrolled in EI scored significantly lower on academic performance than their peers who had delays but did not enroll in EI, as well their peers who had no delays and did not enroll in EI. Implications of these findings are discussed.