Understanding Parenting Stress in Adoptive Parents: A Longitudinal Multilevel Study of Parents' Self-Criticism, Child Negative Emotionality, and Child Age at Placement

• Published in: Journal of personality 2024-11
• Main Authors: Fiore, Simon, Luyten, Patrick, Vliegen, Nicole, Soenens, Bart
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-3506; 1467-6494; 1467-6494
• DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12993

Research on parenting stress in adoptive parents during the early years post-placement reveals significant variability, yet few studies examine both parent- and child-related factors. This study investigates the role of the personality dimension of self-criticism and perceived negative child emotionality in relation to parenting stress during the first four years after transnational adoption. Additionally, it explores the moderating effect of child age at placement, a key factor associated with early adversity. Drawing upon a longitudinal five-wave dataset in the first 4 years after the child arrived in the adoptive family, this study used multi-informant data of 96 adoptive mothers and fathers of transnationally adopted children (mean child age at placement = 13.48 months). Data were analyzed using a multilevel structural equation modeling approach. Parents' self-criticism was positively associated with parenting stress at the between-parent level. At the within-parent level, year-to-year fluctuations in both parents' self-criticism and perceived child's negative emotionality were positively associated with corresponding fluctuations in parenting stress. Child age at placement did not moderate any of these associations. Overall, this study yielded convincing evidence for the dynamic nature of parenting stress in the first years after child placement, the role of parental self-criticism, and the child's perceived negative emotionality herein.