Mental health problems and resilience in international adoptees: Results from a population-based study of Norwegian adolescents aged 16-19 years

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate mental health and resilience in adolescents who have been internationally adopted and their non-adopted peers and examine the potential interaction between adoption status and resilience on mental health problems. Data from the population based youth@hordaland-survey, conducted in Hordaland County, Norway, in 2012 was used. In all, 10 257 adolescents aged 16-19 years provided self-reported data on several mental health instruments. Of these, 45 adolescents were identified as internationally adopted. Adoptees reported more symptoms of depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and perfectionism than non-adopted adolescents, but there were no differences regarding resilience. Adolescents with higher resilience scores reported fewer symptoms of mental health problems, however, no interaction effects were found for adoption status and total resilience score on measures of mental health problems. Our findings indicate that knowledge of resilience factors can form the basis for preventive interventions.

Keywords: Adolescence; Adoption; Mental health; Resilience.