Adopted children's emotion regulation: The role of parental attitudes and communication about adoption.

BACKGROUND Acknowledgement/rejection of adoption related differences and communication about adoption are two of the most important features of  adoptive family dynamics. The present study focuses on the role played by these two variables on the adoptees’ emotion regulation. METHOD The adoptive parents of 70 school-aged children participated in the study. RESULTS Data showed that participant parents perceived their adopted children’s emotion regulation as adequate. In relation to family dynamics, acknowledgment of the adoption specificities significantly predicted the emotional lability/negativity of the adoptees, simultaneously mediated by the emotional quality of and the parental satisfaction with the communication about adoption. Furthermore, there was an indirect effect of early adversity on the adopted child’s emotional lability. CONCLUSIONS These findings provide new insight into adopted children’s emotional development, highlighting the importance of the family environment and pre-adoption experiences.