Adult Outcomes

The chapter focuses exclusively on the 60 adoptees aged over 18 who completed the follow-up survey. It draws on data collected through survey responses and interviews focusing on 24 adult adoptees. It explores their outcomes across a range of dimensions that together contribute to a composite measure of adult functionality. It presents the outcomes the adoptees achieved on each of these key domains and explores how they compared both with those of the normative Australian population and a contemporaneous cohort of care leavers. The adoptees showed more evidence of poor mental health than care leavers, but often did better in terms of education and employment. The presence of a committed adoptive parent appears to have acted as a powerful protective factor, and only extreme indicators of vulnerability at entry to the adoptive home correlated with poor adult outcomes.

School Discipline and Racial Disparities in Early Adulthood

Despite interest in the contributions of school discipline to the creation of racial inequality, previous research has been unable to identify how students who receive suspensions in school differ from unsuspended classmates on key young adult outcomes. We utilize novel data to document the links between high school discipline and important young adult outcomes related to criminal justice contact, social safety net program participation, postsecondary education, and the labor market. We show that the link between school discipline and young adult outcomes tends to be stronger for Black students than for White students, and that approximately 30% of the Black–White disparities in young adult criminal justice outcomes, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) receipt, and college completion can be traced back to inequalities in exposure to school discipline.

Psychopathology, Global Functioning, and ADHD Persistence in Relation to Childhood Adversity: A Latent Class Analysis Approach

We examine the impacts of childhood adversity on adult outcomes for women with and without childhood ADHD using an ethnically diverse sample of 140 participants with ADHD (Mage = 9.7) and 88 age- and ethnicity-matched comparison participants (Mage = 9.4). At adult follow-up, the sample included 211 of the original 228 participants (92.6% retention; Mage = 25.6). We used inclusive latent class analysis to identify profiles of childhood adversity; class membership was subsequently used in regression models to predict adult outcomes and ADHD persistence status. Key findings were as follows: (1) Four childhood adversity profiles emerged (Low Exposure, Familial Dysfunction, Maltreatment, Pervasive Exposure); (2) Compared with women with Low Exposure profile, those with Familial Dysfunction had significantly higher internalizing outcomes, whereas those in the Maltreatment and the Pervasive Exposure profiles were associated with lower global functioning and higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors; (3) Women with childhood ADHD in the Maltreatment profile were significantly more likely than those in the other profiles to show persistent ADHD in adulthood. Findings provide useful information about women who could be targeted for intervention; we discuss limitations and the need to investigate the confluence of neurodevelopmental conditions, like ADHD, and exposure to adverse child events.

Psychopathology, Global Functioning, and ADHD Persistence in Relation to Childhood Adversity: A Latent Class Analysis Approach

We examine the impacts of childhood adversity on adult outcomes for women with and without childhood ADHD using an ethnically diverse sample of 140 participants with ADHD (Mage = 9.7) and 88 age- and ethnicity-matched comparison participants (Mage = 9.4). At adult follow- up, the sample included 211 of the original 228 participants (92.6% retention; Mage = 25.6). We used inclusive latent class analysis to identify profiles of childhood adversity; class membership was subsequently used in regression models to predict adult outcomes and ADHD persistence status. Key findings were as follows: (1) Four childhood adversity profiles emerged (Low Exposure, Familial Dysfunction, Maltreatment, Pervasive Exposure); (2) Compared with women with Low Exposure profile, those with Familial Dysfunction had significantly higher internalizing outcomes, whereas those in the Maltreatment and the Pervasive Exposure profiles were associated with lower global functioning and higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors; (3) Women with childhood ADHD in the Maltreatment profile were significantly more likely than those in the other profiles to show persistent ADHD in adulthood. Findings provide useful information about women who could be targeted for intervention; we discuss limitations and the need to investigate the confluence of neurodevelopmental conditions, like ADHD, and exposure to adverse child events.