Abstract
Empirical research has shown an elevated risk for externalizing behavior problems in international adoptees. To address the extent to which this risk exists for more serious externalizing problems we compared the rates of registered criminal offending of internationally adopted adolescents with those of non-adopted adolescents in the Netherlands. In a large population-based cohort study (N = 3,758,506 including n = 10,563 international adoptees) on Dutch youth with ages up to 19 years we examined registrations in the program on juvenile crime and in the national police system from 2005 to 2013. Controlling for time lapse and background variables we found that international adoptees had been in contact with the criminal justice system more frequently than non-adoptees. However, the findings differed across region of adoption: Adoptees from South America and from Africa had been in contact with the criminal justice system most frequently (and more often than non-adoptees), whereas adoptees from China (total n = 4569) had the least contacts (and less often than non-adoptees). The percentages of criminal offending of adoptees ranged between 1.16% and 15.83% across regions of adoption (versus 10.86% in non-adoptees). The large majority of adoptees – including those from South America and Africa – were not involved in criminal acts. We hypothesize that the higher and lower risks of criminal offending found for adoptees from certain countries are associated with the varying levels of pre-adoption adversity (e.g., neglect and abuse) that the adoptees have experienced.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 32-41 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Children and Youth Services Review |
Volume | 95 |
Early online date | 9 Oct 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
Funding
Femmie Juffer is supported by Wereldkinderen. Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg and Marinus H. Van IJzendoorn were supported by awards from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and the European Research Council (MHvIJ: Spinoza Prize; MJBK: VICI grant, ERC AdG), and they are also members of the Consortium on Individual Development, which is funded through the Gravitation program of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grant 024.001.003 ).
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science | |
European Research Council | |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | 024.001.003 |
Keywords
- Adolescents
- Cohort study
- Criminal offending
- International adoption