A comparison of parenting stress and children’s internalising, externalising and attachment-related behaviour difficulties in UK adoptive and non-adoptive families

Abstract

This study aimed to increase understanding of the impact of the parenting task in a representative sample of adoptive and non-adoptive parents in the UK. Cross-sectional data from two UK samples were collected: (1) 86 adoptive parents and (2) 167 biological parents, of children aged 3–11 years. Parenting stress and parent-reported child internalising, externalising and attachment-related behaviour difficulties were assessed via online questionnaires. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation and analysis of covariance. Compared with their biological counterparts, adoptive parents described higher parenting stress, which was explained by their reports of greater child difficulties, including attachment-related problems. The same was found for biological parents but with lower levels of stress and child difficulties. Thus, the unique nature of the adoptive parenting task indicates that parenting stress should be considered a risk factor when difficulties are present in adoptive families. Furthermore, service thresholds may be better informed by this understanding, particularly as this study found that while just under half of children had high levels of difficulties, under one-third of parents reported receiving services.