The key role of positive parenting and children’s temperament in post‐institutionalized children’s socio‐emotional adjustment after adoption placement. A RCT study

Parenting interventions represent a means for experimen- tally inquiring socio‐emotional change of post‐institution- alized children after adoption. We used this approach in a three time point RCT study involving 83 post‐institutional- ized children (Mage=33.5months, SD=17.1) and their adoptive mothers (Mage = 42.6, SD = 3.9), attending either the Video‐Feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting in adoption and foster care or a dummy inter- vention. Controlling for gender and age at adoption, chil- dren showed a significant change in their socio‐emotional adjustment in the specific variables inquired—that is, emo- tional availability‐EA, and behavioral problems—after in- tervention attendance. Mediation and moderated mediation models showed that maternal EA was a main factor affecting children’s EA and externalizing behavioral problems, with a key moderating role played by children’s temperament; children with high scores on temperamen- tal negative affect benefitted most from their mothers’ increase in EA.