Parental ratings of behavioral adjustment in two samples of adopted Chinese girls: Age-related versus socio-emotional correlates and predictors Tony Xing Tan ⁎ , Kofi Marfo Department of Psychological and Social Foundations, College of Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States Center for Research on Children's Development and Learning, College of Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States Available online 19 January 2006 Abstract Parental ratings of 695 adopted Chinese girls' internalizing, externalizing, and total problem behaviors were analyzed in 4 stages to: (1) Compare adjustment profiles of Chinese adoptee samples with relevant US normative data; (2) analyze age differences in behavioral adjustment differences of Chinese adoptees; (3) examine interrelationships among the 3 behavior problem scores and child's age at adoption, current age, pre-adoption neglect, and post-adoption initial rejection behaviors; and (4) explore the degree to which the 4 child-level independent variables worked individually or collectively to predict behavioral adjustment outcomes. Chinese adoptees had better adjustment scores than normative samples from the U.S. Preschool-age adoptees had better adjustment scores than school-age adoptees. No relationships were observed between the age-related variables and behavioral adjustment measures. However, pre-adoption neglect and post-adoption initial rejection behaviors were predictors of behavioral adjustment scores. The implications of these findings for future research, clinical practice and parenting education were discussed. © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Adoption; Chinese girls; Behavioral adjustment; Age at adoption; Pre-adoption neglect; Post-adoption rejection behaviors; Child Behavior Checklist 1. Introduction According to the organization “Families with Children from China” (FCC, 2004), during the first 10 years (1985– 1994) of China's opening of its borders for international adoption, only 1483 Chinese children were adopted by American families. Since 1995, however, the number has increased dramatically. American families now adopt over 7000 Chinese children each year, almost all young girls, a result of China's “one-child” policy and Chinese society's preference for boys. The children are usually adopted from a much larger pool of children living in the state-run child welfare institutes (CWIs). The condition of the CWIs, though improving, is far from adequate in raising young children (Johnson, Huang, & Wang, 1998). According to the United States Department of State (2005), over 47,500 Chinese children had been adopted by American families by 2004. Each year a large number of Chinese children are also being Applied Developmental Psychology 27 (2006) 14 – 30 ⁎ Corresponding author. Department of Psychological and Social Foundations, College of Education, EDU162, University of South Florida, 4202 Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, United States. E-mail address: Tan@coedu.usf.edu (T.X. Tan). 0193-3973/$ - see front matter © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2005.12.004