Research Library

This mixed-method study examined how being separated or adopted with siblings affects adolescent adoptees’ emotional, behavioural, and conflict regulation outcomes.

This study explores adolescent adoptees’ attachment representations in order to see the impact of both pre-placement factors, including age of placement, and earlier attachment representations. The study focuses on 70 adoptees (35 early-placed and 35 late-placed) at two time points.

Using SSAP, this paper compared looked-after and community-based children. Looked-after children showed more disorganised, avoidant, and negative representations, and fewer secure ones.

This study used the SSAP to compare internal representations in three child groups. Maltreated late-adopted children showed more disorganised, avoidant, and negative representations than early-adopted and non-adopted peers. Over two years, secure representations increased, while avoidant and disorganised ones decreased in both adopted groups.

This paper validated the BERRI, a new mental health and psycho-adjustment measure, identifying an eight-factor structure with strong validity and consistency for Children Looked After.

This systematic review and meta-analysis is the first to establish the type and prevalence of mental health disorders and symptoms among children in residential care. The findings provide evidence that the prevalence of mental health disorders and symptoms are particularly high among children in residential care.

This study aimed to investigate the patterns of vulnerability to harm from external risk and risk to self among children living in residential care in England. Archival data collected routinely from residential care staff who complete the online BERRI Questionnaire about children in their care were used. Certain groups of children in residential care are vulnerable to different types of risk.

The study provides novel insight into interparental conflict in the perinatal period, comparing the experiences of parents with, and without, clinical mental health diagnoses. This research was completed as part of a PhD project.

This randomised controlled trial evaluated the guided online intervention SOPHIE for adolescents (N = 133; 11–17 years) with social anxiety disorder or subclinical social anxiety compared to care-as-usual control condition and qualitatively explored their experiences.