Stress associated with adoptive parenthood was studied in a sample of parents of 104 children below the age of 12 adopted several years before. Most of the children were adopted when they were babies, all were adopted through national adoption programs and very few matched a profile of initial adversity or of special needs. High correlations were found between mothers' and fathers' stress scores, which were in some aspects similar to, and in others lower than, that of normative data. The hierarchical regression analysis on the stress experienced by the mothers showed that both the features of children and of parents, as well as features concerning the use of support resources, are significantly predictive of stress scores for adoptive parenthood.

The aim of this study is to design and validate the Adolescent Future Expectations Scale. We analyze a sample consisting of 1125 participants of both sexes, from Cádiz, with an age range between 11 and 15 years old. Exploratory factorial analysis was performed with the sample 1 (n=551) and it resulted in four factors: economic expectations, academic expectations, expectations of personal well-being and family expectations. The application of the confirmatory factor analysis was performed with the sample 2 (n=574). The factor structure of the scale was confirmed. The model showed a good fit. The reliability and item analyses showed that the scale had good internal consistency. With the aim of determining construct validity, the data obtained by the Adolescent Future Expectations Scale were compared with other instruments that assess self-esteem and life satisfaction. We expected to get positive relationship between them. It was concluded that the 14-item scale is a valid instrument to evaluate adolescents’ future expectations.

Preterm birth (before 37 weeks of gestational age) is associated with certain risks to child development. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize available and updated empirical evidence on prematurity as a risk factor for cognitive development in school age. Thus, we attempted to identify similarities and differences with the full-term population and to point out possible risk or protective factors among the biological, psychosocial and family variables. The conceptualization and methodology of this review followed the PRISMA recommendations. The search was carried out in Web of Science, Scopus, PsycInfo, and Dialnet databases, in May 2022. The search was limited to journal articles, published between 2012 and 2022, in English and Spanish. Research articles selected were those focused on the intelligence quotient (IQ) of preterm children aged 6–12 years. The review included studies with cross-sectional or longitudinal cohorts, compared to a control group of children born at term or to standardized scales. The quality of evidence of the selected studies was verified with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The initial search identified 1,040 articles. Forty articles met the inclusion criteria and were finally included in this review. These studies involved 5,396 preterm children from 37 different cohorts. Despite the diversity found among the results, in general, total IQ scores were within the normative mean for premature children; however, compared to their full-term peers, these scores were lower. The most studied variables in relation to IQ are perinatal (e.g., gestational age and birth weight) and family (e.g., socioeconomic level and education level of the mother). Recent studies corroborate that premature birth affects cognitive development in school age, and identify associated perinatal and family variables.Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=337371; identifier: CRD42022337371.

Adoption disruptions have been usually studied in special needs domestic adoptions. Much less is known about disruptions in international adoptions. Case records for 20 disruptions of international adoptions in Spain were analyzed in-depth. Factors related to parents' and children's characteristics, as well as professional intervention were found to be present in most cases of disruption. Whereas there seemed to be no single factor that can be considered responsible for the adoption breakdown, the accumulation of risk factors is associated with disruption.