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School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

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Abstract

Objective

To investigate school performance of international adoptees in relation to their cognitive competence.

Method

From the population of all male Swedish residents born 1973–1976, registered in the census 1985 and with complete test scores from military conscription, the following study groups were identified: Korean adoptees (n = 320), non-Korean adoptees (n = 1,125), siblings (children born by adoptive parents, n = 190) and Swedish majority comparisons (n = 142,024). Global scores from intelligence tests at conscription were compared with grade points from the last compulsory school year (year 9). Linear and logistic regression was applied in statistical analyses.

Results

The mean grade points in theoretical subjects were lower in non-Korean adoptees than in the majority population, but when global test scores from military conscription were adjusted for, outcomes were significantly better, equal for physics, than in the majority population. The grade points of Korean adoptees were higher than in the majority population and the same held true after adjusting for global test scores. When SES was taken into account, the risk of poor school performance (only completed lower subject levels) increased in non-Korean adoptees compared to models only adjusted for age and sex.

Conclusion

Male international adoptees generally perform better in school than expected by their cognitive competence. A cognitive evaluation is important in the assessment of adoptees with learning difficulties.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. The research position of Frank Lindblad is financed by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of Uppsala, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden

    Frank Lindblad MD, PhD

  2. Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Frank Lindblad MD, PhD

  3. Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo, PB 1140, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway

    Monica Dalen PhD

  4. Child and Adolescent Public Health Epidemiology Group, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden

    Finn Rasmussen MD, PhD

  5. Centre for Epidemiology, National Board of Health and Welfare, 106 30, Stockholm, Sweden

    Bo Vinnerljung PhD & Anders Hjern MD, PhD

  6. Institute for Evidence-based Social Work Practice, National Board of Health and Welfare, 106 30, Stockholm, Sweden

    Bo Vinnerljung PhD

  7. Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden

    Anders Hjern MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Frank Lindblad MD, PhD
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  2. Monica Dalen PhD
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  3. Finn Rasmussen MD, PhD
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  4. Bo Vinnerljung PhD
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  5. Anders Hjern MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Lindblad MD, PhD.

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Lindblad, F., Dalen, M., Rasmussen, F. et al. School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 18, 301–308 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0731-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0731-7

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