Intercountry adopted - a follow-up in adulthood

Sweden, in relation to its population, is one of the world's largest recipients for international adoption, and in Sweden, adoption has become one of several ways to start a family. This study investigates welfare components of the first large group of intercountry adopted persons born in the 1970s and raised in Sweden. Previous research has shown that adopted persons suffer mental health problems to a greater extent than others. Research on adopted persons situation in adulthood has been mainly confined to young adults in their 20s. We will study the welfare of international adopted persons in the ages 32 to 41. This will be done through a descriptive register based study where the population consists of all people born in the 1970s who were adopted from abroad by two Swedish-born parents sometime during their first five years of life. Individuals born in Sweden during the same period with two Swedish-born parents will comprise the comparison group. Our research questions focus on how intercountry adopted persons may differ from the comparison group in terms of family, education and income and our first results indicate that differences do exist.