Age at Adoption: A Measure of Time in the Orphanage or Child-Specific Factors?

Abstract

This study examined the association between pre-adoption variables (e.g., time in orphanage, birth weight) and age at adoption in a sample of 169 children, aged 0–4 years, adopted from orphanages in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. Time in orphanage was the best predictor of age at adoption. Later adoptees were also more likely to have spent time in a family prior to the orphanage and to have experienced abuse/neglect than earlier adoptees. These results suggest that age at adoption is most strongly related to time in the orphanage; however, family experience, especially abuse/neglect, should also be evaluated in post-institutionalized (PI) children.