Introduction. Recent literature has shown that the good outcome of adoption would mostly depend on the quality of adoptive parenting, which is strongly associated with the security of parental internal working models (IWMs) of attachment. Specifically, attachment states-of-mind of adoptive mothers classified as free and autonomous and without lack of resolution of loss or trauma could represent a good protective factor for adopted children previously maltreated and neglected. While most research on adoptive families has focused on pre-school and school-aged children, the aim of this study was to assess the concordance of IWMs of attachment in adoptive dyads during adolescence. Method. Our pilot-study involved 76 participants: 30 adoptive mothers (mean age=51.5±4.3), and their 46 late-adopted adolescents (mean age = 13.9 ± 1.6), who were all aged four to nine years old at time of adoption (M = 6.3 ± 1.5). Attachment representations of adopted adolescents were assessed by the Friend and Family Interview (FFI), while adoptive mothers’ state-of-mind with respect to attachment was classified by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Adolescents’ verbal intelligence was controlled. Results. Late-adopted adolescents were classified as follows: 67% secure, 26% dismissing and 7% preoccupied in the FFI, while their adoptive mothers’ AAI classifications were 70% free-autonomous, 7% dismissing, and 23% unresolved. We found a significant concordance of 70% (32 dyads) between the secure-insecure FFI and AAI classifications. Specifically adoptive mothers with high coherence of transcript and low unresolved loss tend to have late-adopted children with high secure attachment, even if the adolescents’ verbal intelligence made a significant contribution to this prediction. Discussion. Our results provides an empirical contribution to the literature concerning the concordance of attachment in adoptive dyads, highlighting the beneficial impact of highly coherent states-of-mind of adoptiv

This paper reports on a long-term follow-up of a longitudinal study conducted in Italy that assessed attachment patterns of late-adopted children (placed between 4 and 8 years old) and their adoptive mothers, in three phases: T1, at placement; T2, in childhood (7–8 months after adoption); and T3, in adolescence (current study). The following hypotheses were tested: 1) children’ IWMs will shift from insecurity towards security in a long-term follow-up; and 2) there will be a significant association between adoptees’ and adoptive mothers’ IWMs in adolescence. Participants were 22 late-adopted adolescents (aged 11–16) and their adoptive mothers, all assessed in previous phases. Participants completed several measures of attachment, including the Separation-Reunion Procedure (T1, T2), Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (T2), Friends and Family Interview (T3), and Adult Attachment Interview (T1, T3). Late-adopted adolescents showed both an increase in attachment security and a decrease in disorganized attachment from childhood to adolescence. Adoptive mothers’ (T3) secure states of mind were associated significantly to their adopted children attachment security in adolescence. These findings reinforce the importance of taking attachment into account for adoptive families from the beginning of adoption.