Findings

• What happened to those adopted before 6 months old?

  They quickly caught up with the British children and had a mean IQ of 102
• What happened to those adopted between 6 months and 2 years old?

  They had significant cognitive, social, and physical development problems and had a mean IQ of 86
• What happened to those adopted after 2 years?

  • They had problems requiring the intervention of an educational psychologist or psychiatrist and had a mean IQ of 77
  • These problems persisted all the way to the age of 15
  • They had symptoms similar to autism - difficulties understanding the meaning of social contexts and obsessional behaviour
• Children adopted after the age of 6 months showed signs of a particular attachment style called disinhibited attachment

  Symptoms include:

  • Attention seeking
  • Clinginess
  • Being equally friendly and affectionate towards familiar people and strangers (strange as most children in their second year show stranger anxiety)