Families with Internationally Adopted Children in Finland: A Study of Emotional Availability in the Early Interaction.

A well-functioning parent-child relationship is crucial for the child's psychological development. We examined the Emotional Availability (EA) in the early interaction of internationally adopted children with their mothers. We also studied whether the quality of the interaction was associated with the sex of the adopted children, the age at the time of adoption, the time they had spent in the family and parental depressive symptoms.

One-third of children had clinical signs of developmental coordination disorder 6 months after their international adoption.

Aim: Our aim was to fill a gap in the research about the prevalence of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) among internationally adopted children. We explored the prevalence of signs of DCD and the associations between those and behavioural problems six and 18 months after adoption.

Methods: The data came from the ongoing Finnish Adoption Study 2 and this research focused on the international adoptions of children under 7 years of age between 2012 and 2016.

Web-based follow-up tool (ePIPARI) of preterm infants-study protocol for feasibility and performance.

Background: Preterm infants have a risk of health and developmental problems emerging after discharge. This indicates the need for a comprehensive follow-up to enable early identification of these problems. In this paper, we introduce a follow-up tool "ePIPARI - web-based follow-up for preterm infants".

Five-to-Fifteen-Parental Perception of Developmental Profile from Age 5 to 8 Years in Children Born Very Preterm.

Children born very preterm have increased risk of developmental difficulties. We examined the parental perception of developmental profile of children born very preterm at 5 and 8 years by using the parental questionnaire Five-to-Fifteen (FTF) compared to full-term controls. We also studied the correlation between these age points.

Child Eveningness as a Predictor of Parental Sleep.

Child eveningness has been associated with many adverse outcomes for children. The aim of this study was to assess whether child eveningness poses a risk to parental sleep quality in follow-up. A total of 146 children (57% adopted, 47% boys, mean age at follow-up 5.

Changes in objectively measured sleep among internationally adopted children in 1-year follow-up during the first years in new families.

Background: Psychosocial risks and environmental changes experienced by internationally adopted children may predict sleep problems, which are incidentally among the main concerns of adoptive parents. Several questionnaire studies have found sleep of internationally adopted children to be problematic, but none of those used an objective measure in a controlled study.

Objective: To determine whether the objectively recorded sleep of internationally adopted children is worse than their controls who are living with their biological parents.

Do the Temperamental Characteristics of Both Mother and Child Influence the Well-Being of Adopted and Non-Adopted Children?

(1) Background: For decades, the temperaments of infants and small children have been a focus of studies in human development and been seen as a potential contributor to children's developmental patterns. However, less is known about the interplay between the temperamental characteristics of mothers and their children in the context of explaining variations in developmental outcomes. The aim of our study was to explore the associations-with or without genetic links-of the temperaments and psychological distress of mothers and the temperaments of children with behavioral problems in a group of internationally adopted children and their adoptive mothers and in a group of non-adopted children and their mothers.

The effects of maternal depression on their perception of emotional and behavioral problems of their internationally adopted children.

Background: Even though child psychopathology assessment guidelines emphasize comprehensive multi-method, multimodal, and multi-informant methodologies, maternal-report symptom-rating scales often serve as the predominant source of information. Research has shown that parental mood symptomatology affects their reports of their offspring's psychopathology. For example, the depression-distortion hypothesis suggests that maternal depression promotes a negative bias in mothers' perceptions of their children's behavioral and emotional problems.

Continuous positive airway pressure treatment may negatively affect auditory maturation in preterm infants.

Aim: Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices generate loud noise, which might harm auditory function and maturation. The function of auditory pathways can be examined by using brainstem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) and brainstem audiometry (BA) recordings. Our objective was to study whether CPAP treatment during the neonatal period is associated with abnormalities in BAEP and BA recordings.

Associations between Language at 2 Years and Literacy Skills at 7 Years in Preterm Children Born at Very Early Gestational Age and/or with Very Low Birth Weight.

Preterm children (born <37 gestational weeks) who are born at very early gestational age (<32 weeks, very preterm, VP) and/or with very low birth weight (≤1500 g, VLBW) are at increased risk for language and literacy deficits. The continuum between very early language development and literacy skills among these children is not clear. Our objective was to investigate the associations between language development at 2 years (corrected age) and literacy skills at 7 years in VP/VLBW children.

Intestinal parasites may be associated with later behavioral problems in internationally adopted children.

Aim: At arrival in new home country, internationally adopted children often have intestinal parasites. International adoptees also exhibit more behavioral problems than their biological peers. We examined whether intestinal parasite infections in international adoptees on arrival in Finland are associated with their later behavioral and emotional problems.

Bullying Among International Adoptees: Testing Risks and Protective Factors.

This study examined the risks and protective factors for experiencing bullying and especially racist bullying among internationally adopted children in Finland. Factors examined were related to children's background, adoptive family, children's social problems and social skills, and their associations with bullying experiences. About 56.

Neonatal brainstem auditory function associates with early receptive language development in preterm children.

Aim: To study whether auditory function measured with brainstem auditory evoked potential and brainstem audiometry recordings in the neonatal period associates with language development 1 year later in preterm infants.

Methods: This retrospective study included 155 preterm infants (birthweight ≤1500 g and/or birth ≤32 gestational weeks) born between 2007 and 2012 at the Turku University Hospital. Auditory function was recorded in neonatal period.

Normative values for sleep parameters in pre-schoolers using actigraphy.

Objective: There are currently no reference values for actigraphy-measured sleep length and fragmentation in preschool children. We created standardized parameters using a community sample.

Methods: Ninety-seven 2-to-6-year-old children (56 boys) wore an actigraph on their non-dominant wrist for seven days.

Parental depressive symptoms as a risk factor for child depressive symptoms; testing the social mediators in internationally adopted children.

Parental depressive symptoms have shown to be associated with offspring depression but much of the research has been focused on maternal depression. The aim of our study was to investigate the extent to which depressive symptoms of both parents associate with offspring depressive symptoms and whether social factors mediate these associations using data from adopted children with no shared genetic background. Data were derived from the Finnish Adoption survey study (a subsample of adopted children aged between 9 and 12 years, n = 548).

Child and family-related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

International adoptees need to cope with stressful transitions and to develop secure attachment with their caregivers at the same time. Although most children adopted from abroad adjust fine, they are at increased risk of psychological problems. We investigated whether both child and family-related factors are associated with later psychological problems and whether the length of time spent at home after adoption before daycare moderates these associations among internationally adopted children in Finland (FinAdo, Finnish Adoption Study).

Chorioamnionitis and Five-Year Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Preterm Infants.

Background: Chorioamnionitis, a risk factor for preterm delivery, has been suggested to be associated with suboptimal neurological development in premature infants.

Objective: To evaluate the association between chorioamnionitis and neurodevelopment in preterm infants at 5 years of age. Methods Very low birth weight and very low gestational age infants (n = 197) were recruited.

Poor Parental Sleep and the Reported Sleep Quality of Their Children.

Background: Pediatric sleep disturbances are regularly diagnosed on the basis of parental reports. However, the impact of parental sleeping problems on parental perceptions and reports of their child's sleep has not yet been studied. We hypothesized that poor parental sleep decreases the parent-reported child sleep quality.

Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological outcomes among adult international adoptees in Finland: Moderating effects of social support and sense of coherence.

Quantitative literature on international adoptees and racial/ethnic discrimination is lacking despite results in qualitative studies from Europe and the United States that have consistently indicated how racism constantly complicates adoptees' everyday lives. To advance the literature, the present study examined the prevalence of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination among 213 adult international adoptees in Finland (59.6% women and 40.

Health-related quality of life in very low birth weight children at nearly eight years of age.

Aim: This study examined the impact of prematurity-related morbidity on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of premature children at eight years of age, compared to term born controls of same age.

Methods: We focused on 155 premature, very low birth weight (VLBW) infants weighing up to 1500 g who were born from 2001 to 2006 in Turku University Hospital, Finland, and compared them with 129 full-term controls. Cognitive development and length was assessed at five years of age and the children self-reported 17 dimensions of HRQoL at eight years of age.

High lipoprotein(a) concentrations are associated with impaired endothelial function in children.

Objective: To examine the association between familial high lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), concentrations and endothelial function in children participating in the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project study.

Study Design: Seven-month-old children (n = 1062) with their families were randomized to a risk intervention group or to a control group. The intervention group received individualized dietary counseling to reduce the total cholesterol concentration.

Associations between attachment-related symptoms and later psychological problems among international adoptees: results from the FinAdo study.

We examined the associations between attachment-related symptoms (symptoms of reactive attachment disorder (RAD), symptoms of disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED), and clinging) and later psychological problems among international adoptees. The study population comprised internationally adopted children (591 boys and 768 girls, 6-15 years) from the ongoing Finnish Adoption (FinAdo) study. Data were gathered with self-administered questionnaires both from adoptive parents and from adoptees aged over 9 years.