Exploring the attachment-related representational and emotional trajectory from late adoption to early adulthood: A longitudinal qualitative study

Late-adopted children

While opinions vary on which age marks the distinction, ‘early’ and ‘late-adopted children’ are terms typically used to distinguish between those adopted before and after 12 months of age, respectively (Hillman et al., 2020). Late-adopted children, in particular, may have suffered various kinds of maltreatment and manifold placements prior to adoption, often without having a clear understanding of when, or if, adoption would occur (Hodges et al., 2003). Both maltreatment and neglect are thought to have long-term impacts on most of the fundamental aspects of child development – neurophysiological, behavioural, emotional, social – as well as on mental health and education outcomes (Wilkinson and Bowyer, 2017). At the same time, a direct link exists between early traumatic experiences, such as maltreatment, and later deficiency in emotion regulation (Ford, 2005; Schore, 2001). In addition, some studies suggest that late-adopted children may show lower levels of attachment security than their early adopted counterparts (Hillman et al., 2020) as well as high levels of avoidance, dysregulated aggression and catastrophic fantasy in their narratives (Hodges et al., 2003). Interestingly, Bowlby (1982) underlines the presence of multiple IWMs amongst maltreated children; very often, they tend to defensively exclude any abusive or neglectful memories to safeguard attachment relationships.

Additionally, while maltreated children are very much likely to be classified as insecure or disorganised (Bacon and Richardson, 2001; Baer and Martinez, 2006; Egeland and Sroufe, 1981; Riggs, 2010), such attachment classifications are associated with various developmental difficulties (George and Main, 1979; Van Rosmalen et al., 2015). According to Steele and colleagues (2009), disorganisation underlies the disintegrated representational world in terms of both self and others. Strikingly, while the adverse psychological and neurobiological consequences of maltreatment are indisputable (Andersen et al., 2008; Callaghan and Tottenham, 2016; Music, 2017), they might also resonate to early adulthood (Kisely et al., 2018).

Attachment in late-adopted childhood

Attachment in late-adopted childhood is twofold. Following such children one and two years after placement, Hodges and colleagues (2005) acknowledge that even though attachment security increases within a stable adoptive environment facilitated by organised states of mind of the adoptive parents (see also Dozier et al., 2001) insecurity remains, so the aftermath of previous maltreatment appears to be persistent (Hillman et al., 2020; Pace et al., 2016). Assessing late-adopted children almost a year after placement, Pace and colleagues (2012) found similar results. Admittedly, early abusive IWMs may gradually lose potency but seldom cease to exist (Kaniuk et al., 2004), a standpoint further supported by neurodevelopmental research (Balbernie, 2001).

In addition, following up 61 adopted four-year-old children in Greece, previously institutionalised for the first two years of their life, and comparing them with a cohort of family-reared children in terms of their cognitive, emotional and attachment-related development, Vorria and colleagues (2006) consider institutionalisation per se to have hazardous long-term repercussions and to contribute to a relatively slow attenuation of maladaptive IWMs. However, Dance and Rushton (2005) convey young adopted individuals’ experience of adoption as a novel beginning, despite the aforementioned persistent insecurity.

Attachment in late-adopted adolescence

During adolescence, late-adopted individuals seem to show an increase in attachment security; according to Pace and colleagues (2016, 2019) this is strongly linked to their adoptive parents’ states of mind. In its second follow-up, assessing adolescents in adoptive care for approximately 11 years, the Greek Metera study revealed a significant recession of disorganisation over time as well as a moderate stability of attachment between infancy and adolescence (Vorria et al., 2015). On the other hand, the English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) study showed that attachment disorder behaviours, highly associated with duration of institutional care, tend to persist (O’Connor et al., 2000; Rutter et al., 2007); Simmel (2007) as well as Kreppner and colleagues (2007) also report on such persistence. However, positive results with respect to attachment in early adolescence are linked to optimal parenting (Groza and Muntean, 2016), mind coherence (Pace et al., 2015) and maternal sensitive support (Beijersbergen et al., 2012), while Pace and colleagues (2018) emphasise how cognitive strategies due to plasticity in adolescence may lead to a flexible and integrative reappraisal of positive and negative experiences.

Attachment in late-adopted adulthood

Despite the need to longitudinally investigate attachment in samples that undergo major life circumstances (Callaghan and Tottenham, 2016; Dozier et al., 2001; Main et al., 1985; Pace et al., 2012), adoption and attachment research in adulthood is limited and findings are mostly negative for late-adopted individuals, despite adulthood being the period when significant brain areas reach maturation and the risk for various mental health difficulties is elevated (Melero and Sánchez-Sandoval, 2017). In his study, Howe (2001) found that late-adopted adults appear not to have developed a strong sense of belonging or feeling loved within their adoptive families. Nonetheless, assessing 39 previously institutionalised young adopted adults, Arace and colleagues (2025) stress that attachment representations of adoptive parents contribute to the recovery of maladaptive attachment patterns of their children.

Additionally, Irhammar and Bengtsson (2004) report that late adoption is associated with adult insecure attachment organisation. After assessing 100 Chinese girls who spent between eight months and six years in orphanage care, later adopted in the UK and followed up during adulthood, Rushton and colleagues (2013) suggest that a negative adoption experience may lead to adverse consequences, not institutional care per se. Conversely, Sonuga-Barke and colleagues (2017) stress the hazardous consequences of early deprivation that persist up to adulthood despite possible nurturing interventions.

Qualitative research focusing on attachment among adult individuals adopted later in life also remains scarce. Nonetheless, some studies have qualitatively explored attachment relationships within this population (Dalton et al., 2022; Winkenweder et al., 2022), while a different line of qualitative research has illuminated their experiences of parenthood (Edwards et al., 2023; Neil et al., 2023), their strong desire for social relationships and their need for guidance in navigating them (Kennedy et al., 2024).

1.1. Understanding and handling anger

Manifestations of anger and aggressiveness were prominent across all participants’ accounts; beginning from a relatively raw and unprocessed state, such manifestations were understood as changing alongside participants’ developmental trajectories. Even though characteristics of this process’ evolution differed across participants’ accounts, anger was a common feature, manifested as something requiring understanding and regulation.

At P1a, participants’ narratives were marked by expressions of anger and aggression, with repeated references to death, physical and verbal violence, as well as acts of destruction. For example, after being frustrated by the children’s behaviour, the mother in Beatrice’s narrative ‘hits both of them on the head’ (SSAP); similarly, in Kaleigh’s narrative, the mum was represented hurting the child: ‘Auh! You hurt me!’ (SSAP).

Even though raw expressions of anger and aggressiveness became significantly less prominent across the three timepoints, it was only during adolescence that participants began to reflect on anger more elaborately. Rebecca tried to identify the origins of her anger and explored safe ways of expressing and coping with it. She would: ‘count one to 10 or just shout… then if that doesn’t work then I just go upstairs and just punch something or just do something or throw something, not at the person but just as like...’ (FFI).

Besides Beatrice, who did not present a strong verbal elaboration of anger in the AAI but rather kept it implicit in her unstable voice and long pauses, when asked about difficult life experiences, Rebecca and Kaleigh did reflect further on their own as well as others’ anger during adulthood. Namely, Kaleigh elaborated on the reciprocal anger in the relationship with her mother:

She had a lot of anger […] and so did I. Um, I think my anger towards her was very much you’re not my mother. And um, her anger I think towards me was maybe her feeling a bit rejected. (AAI)

Overall, this theme developed from the latent and unprocessed state of childhood into acquiring a more coherent form and understanding in adolescence and adulthood.

1.2. ‘I just wanted to be sad’: Dealing with sadness and distress

All individuals presented an either low or moderate contact with negative and upsetting emotions in the SSAP data but managed to gradually understand and accept them as the years passed; this developmental pattern was evident across both the FFI and the AAI data.

In the SSAP narratives, contact with feelings of distress was mostly avoided, insufficiently present or introduced only after prompting. In Rebecca’s narrative, no one seemed to be afraid of an elephant, supposed to elicit fear:

Over time, even if avoidance was somewhat preserved, sadness was depicted as better understood and allowed by all three participants. This understanding was evident in the FFI and AAI narratives:

I just let it take its course, I let myself feel sad. (Beatrice, FFI)

1.3. Managing feelings of rejection

Rejection was significantly prominent across narratives of all timepoints, and participants’ associated feelings – primarily negative – followed a progressive and reflective path, similar to anger and sadness. In Kaleigh’s narrative, the parents were indifferent when shown a picture that their child drew at school:

In addition, when the child in a story stem was asked to leave the parental couple alone, Beatrice declared that the little girl ‘feeled a lot’ and that ‘she was sad’ (SSAP).

During adolescence, participants elaborated on the reasons underlying their loneliness, either centred around members of the family or peers: ‘I don’t feel close to anyone but my dad is never here so I kinda get really lonely and… it really kinda upsets me a lot’ (Kaleigh, FFI).

They all reflected further during adulthood and focused on the impact of their parents’ attention – either to them or other members of the family – on their feelings of rejection. For example, Rebecca ‘constantly felt rejected’ (AAI); however, she was aware that this was because her brother was the one who ‘needed the help’ (AAI).

Overall, feelings of rejection as well as their origins within the family dynamics were acknowledged and reflected upon by all participants across the different timepoints.

1.4. Role of friendships in managing distress

Friendship was identified as a key theme across all data of the three participants; namely, friendships were particularly associated with distressing situations as a means to either correct or soothe their ramifications. Thus, in Beatrice’s SSAP narrative, a friendship managed to soothe the feelings of fear towards a fierce elephant: ‘the animals were just scared of it, but now they’ve all made friend[s]’.

Similarly, when asked to leave the parental couple alone, the child in Rebecca’s narrative also introduced friends:

C: And then they all played, they all played together.

As evident in the FFI and AAI data, all participants strongly valued relationships with friends and would turn to them when confronted with a difficult situation. For example, Beatrice acknowledged that she would ask for her friend’s advice in a difficult situation: ‘one of my close friends… she’s quite good at thinking things through, so I might go to her’ (FFI). Rebecca considered how family friends, who were still very significant and present in her life, have helped her a lot in difficult situations: ‘they helped me a lot when I was a kid, because sometimes I felt like I could talk to them more than I could probably talk to my parents’ (AAI).

Overall, the significance of friendships for easing difficult emotional experiences was prominent across all timepoints for all three participants.

2.1. Parental representations in conflict

Across all timepoints, caregiving figures received an enmeshed pattern of both positive and negative representations. The SSAP data depicted parental figures as aggressive and violent as well as caring and loving at the same time.

For example, the mother figure in Rebecca’s narrative demonstrated great affection when reunited with her little pig:

C: Hello!

However, she was also presented as verbally abusive and neglectful – she denied putting a plaster on her daughter’s burnt hand, claiming that she has done it to herself and thus she should bear her action’s consequences: ‘And she doesn’t put a plaster on. She says, “Serves you right!” because she done it to herself’ (SSAP).

During adolescence, representations remained in conflict, although to a more elaborate degree. Thus, Beatrice’s representation of the mother was both of a generous caregiving figure wishing to provide for her daughter, but also of a quite absent one:

She’s really generous, like she spent like 300 on me for Christmas.

Reflecting on their childhood representations during adulthood, all participants maintained the ambiguous sense of younger years, whilst elaborating further. When asked to describe her childhood relationship with her mother retrospectively, Kaleigh chose two positive and two negative words: ‘I would say strange… I guess fun… there was a lot of, I guess, anger… I would say just caring’ (AAI). Likewise, Rebecca characterised her relationship with her father as ‘exciting’, but also ‘stressful and absent’ (AAI).

Overall, parental representations remained conflicted across all timepoints. Even if negative aspects of such representations managed to be repaired in adulthood – as presented in the following subtheme – a relatively fragmented remembrance of childhood representations appeared persistent.

2.2. Negative parental representations repaired

Even if parental representations in childhood and adolescence maintained a conflicting nature, either approached at the exact point of development or retrospectively, participants reflected on these relationships during adulthood and managed to reconcile with their parents, each one in a different way. Thus, the physical presence of her father assisted Beatrice to get closer to him, whereas Kaleigh’s transition to motherhood ‘rebuilt’ (AAI) her relationship with her own mother. Lastly, reflection and forgiveness aided Rebecca in the same process with respect to her father: ‘he’s quite emotional and actually we are very similar. But when I was a kid, I didn’t understand that’ (AAI).

For all, this reconciliation contributed to creating an adult loving environment of trust and understanding. Despite her difficulties, when asked to describe her current relationship with her parents, Kaleigh’s words were: ‘amazing, absolutely amazing’ (AAI).

Overall, the reconciliation was apparent only in the AAI data for all participants, most of the times accompanied by reflection on the ambiguous remembrance of the past.

3.1. Oscillating between neediness and independence

Participants’ narratives illustrated a clear oscillation between their desire for independence and their need for others, specifically parental figures. Indicators of both sides of this oscillation were either spread across different timepoints or occurred at the same time.

In general, both indicators of neediness and independence were depicted across all SSAP narratives. Neediness manifested as turning to their parents when distressed: ‘Oh, Mummy and Dad, the burglar was in my room!’ (Kaleigh, SSAP).

Independence, on the other hand, was depicted in terms of initiating action: upon a demanding situation when a child/little animal figure was either lost or hurt, the subjects of the story succeeded in overcoming this independently. For instance, in Rebecca’s narrative, the lost little pig managed to find his way home on his own:

I: But how did he know how to get home?

In adolescence, all participants valued both time by themselves and time with others, whether friends or family members: ‘sometimes I like to be by myself… I like having independence, but I, I have more fun when I’m with my friends’ (Beatrice, FFI).

During adulthood, Rebecca elaborated on how she has managed to find an optimal distance between herself and other people and reflected on how she is ‘needy but independent’: ‘I need someone to be there if I really, really need them, but I need space to also be myself and do my own things’ (AAI).

Overall, the oscillation between neediness and independence was prominent in the data of all participants.

3.2. ‘Let children have fun’: Appreciating childhood bliss

Although this theme did not emerge from any of the SSAP narratives, which reflected minor if not zero aspects of childhood happiness and bliss, it was salient across the developmental trajectories of the three individuals, who reflected on their childhood with their adoptive families and were able to reminisce about it. Thus, Beatrice admitted that she felt happy during childhood because her mum let her be a child, with all its corollaries: ‘I felt happy because you know my, my mom let me be a child, be imaginative, be creative, you know?’ (AAI).

Similarly, Rebecca remembered how she had to ‘grow up quite quickly’ (AAI). Reflecting on her experiences, she admitted that when she did grow up, she felt ‘like more of a child’ (AAI) and as a teacher, among her wishes for her school students, she included for them to succeed in ‘keeping childhood for a bit longer’ (AAI). Finally, Kaleigh also explained that as a mother herself, she has put a lot of emphasis on creating an environment for her children to ‘have fun’ (AAI).

Overall, albeit not emergent from the SSAP data, this theme was prominent across all participants’ accounts in a retrospective form later on in life.

1.1. Understanding and handling anger

This subtheme reflected how participants were able to progress and eloquently describe the origins of their anger, which was very present during childhood in the form of unprocessed, raw and dysregulated aggression. More precisely, this aggression, also highlighted among late-adopted individuals by Hodges and colleagues (2003) and emerging in the SSAP narratives as killings, death and physical violence, illustrated both the participants’ internal states with respect to their previous adverse experiences and their difficulties with emotional regulation. According to Neil (2012), adverse early experiences can have an impact on a child’s emotional competence (i.e., understanding, expression and regulation). Since maltreatment has been shown to create maladaptive representational models and attachment behaviours (Steele et al., 2009), and considering the fundamental connection between attachment and emotion regulation (Kobak and Sceery, 1988; Mikulincer et al., 2003; Schore, 2000), it stands to reason that the regulatory strategies of the participating adopted individuals appeared to be impaired during childhood (Ford, 2005; Schore, 2001).

Interestingly, as the study’s participants grew up in their adoptive families, impaired regulation gradually evolved into an interest in understanding the origins of their anger and resolving parent-related aggressiveness. Previous studies have acknowledged the reparative role of adoptive parents, who are able to reinforce their children’s regulatory capabilities (Neil, 2012; Simmel, 2007). Within her new family context, Rebecca managed to come up with anger-related regulatory techniques in adolescence; although not causative, this finding correlates with Schore’s (2000) claim that regulatory strategies are related to an individual’s mental representations.

1.2. ‘I just wanted to be sad’: Dealing with sadness and distress

The intense presence of avoidance regarding distressing and sad feelings during childhood concurs with Hodges and colleagues’ (2003) findings on the avoidance and impaired contact of adopted individuals with their internal emotional world in childhood. These findings are also related to Neil’s (2012) claim that children’s avoidance of difficult topics contributes to their feelings remaining in an unresolved and unelaborated state.

Interestingly, the elaboration and regulation of distressing and sad feelings across the participants’ development were inextricably linked to their acceptance. Indeed, participants not only came into contact with their sadness by expressing it, but they also highlighted that this contact was a form of a personal allowance that led to acceptance. For example, in adolescence, Beatrice stressed that ‘I let myself be sad’, implying that such permission might previously have been absent or deficient. These findings, besides underlining the reparative importance of adoptive environments for emotion regulation and expression (Neil, 2012; Simmel, 2007), also add to the extensive literature regarding adoption-related losses. While feelings of sadness have been widely related to loss (Barroso and Barbosa-Ducharne, 2019; Brodzinsky, 2014), many studies have stressed the general expectation that adopted individuals should feel grateful for being chosen for adoption, which in turn undervalues their feelings of loss and grief (Ballús and Pérez-Téstor, 2017; Mitchell, 2018; Neil, 2012; Soares et al., 2019).

1.3. Managing feelings of rejection

Feelings of rejection persisted but were described more eloquently as the years passed. Despite the stability of Rebecca’s placement with her adoptive family, she thought about how she ‘constantly felt rejected’. This finding concurs with Gupta and Featherstone's (2020) research, which illustrated that fearful feelings regarding rejection might be so deeply established in adopted individuals that they persist despite placement success.

In addition, the loss of a birth family can be perceived as rejection by adopted people, shaping their IWMs accordingly. Findings on the persistence of feelings of rejection are thus in accordance with the claim that IWMs of attachment are shaped by a person’s primary relational experiences (Bretherton and Munholland, 2016) and guide and interpret their experiences of the future (Bowlby, 1982).

1.4. Role of friendships in managing distress

Throughout their developmental trajectory, participants persistently referred to friends as facilitators in the process of managing distress. The significance ascribed to relationships with peers in adolescence and adulthood concurs with Bowlby's (1982) suggestion that in these stages of development, attachment behaviour is directed towards individuals outside the core of the family. However, the salience of such references in the childhood narratives as well was striking. Due to the absence of stable parental mental representations that could possibly act as emotion-regulators in childhood, the study’s participants possibly introduced same-aged peers for the same purpose when encountering distressing events. This claim aligns with Tang and colleagues' (2021) argument that friendships in childhood may compensate for the absence or insufficiency of caregiving relationships, which usually characterise the experience of adopted children.

In addition, this finding contributes to the existing gap in the literature exploring adult relationships, particularly friendships, among maltreated populations (Pigeon et al., 2024). When participants described their friendships in adolescence and adulthood, they talked about trust and closeness, elements associated with high-quality friendships (Berndt, 2002). Thus, these findings about peer relationships contradict those of DeLuca and colleagues' (2019) study, which states that individuals raised by their biological parents are more likely than adopted individuals to have high-quality peer relationships.

2.1. Parental representations in conflict

Across development, participants’ mental representations of their parents were of a conflicting nature; for example, during childhood, Rebecca’s maternal figure was presented as simultaneously caring and verbally abusive. These findings concur with Kaniuk and colleagues' (2004) argument that abusive IWMs in the early years may gradually weaken but do not cease to exist and with Bowlby's (1982) suggestion that among maltreated children, multiple IWMs seem to operate. Such conflicting representations of caregiving figures were also prominent among a group of late-adopted individuals in Hillman and colleagues' (2025) study.

The conflicting childhood representations gradually became more integrated in adolescence, since parental figures were described as more layered, incorporating both good and bad attributes. Pace and colleagues (2018) acknowledge that in adolescence refined cognitive strategies may provoke an integrative reappraisal of negative and positive experiences. Within an ambivalent context, relationships with parents also received very positive descriptions, implying the inclusivity and the loving nature of the adoptive environment. These findings do not align with Howe’s (2001) assessment that adult late-adopted individuals seem to be deprived of a sense of belonging and a loving environment across development.

2.2. Negative parental representations repaired

Regardless of past conflicting memories, the participants managed to rebuild the negative parental representations in adulthood, upon reflection, forgiveness and understanding. This reparation, suggesting a shift between what used to be and what is, supports the idea that IWMs are malleable, as many researchers have advocated (Barone and Lionetti, 2012; Barone et al., 2017; Hesse, 2016; Main et al., 1985; Music, 2017; van IJzendoorn and Juffer, 2006).

In accordance with such malleability, Hesse (2016: 570) claims that ‘earned security’ rests upon an integrative reconsideration of positive and negative experiences (Pace et al., 2018), and argues that a secure state of mind is possible despite early adversity. On the other hand, with an intergenerational focus, Hillman and colleagues (2025) highlight that adoption by securely attached parents might facilitate the revision process of fundamentally established maladaptive attachment-related beliefs. Given the gap in longitudinal research on adult late-adopted individuals, future attachment-focused studies within this research area may illuminate the reparative aspects of adoption as a potential intervention.

3.1. Oscillating between neediness and independence

The findings reflected an oscillation between the participants’ reliance on other people and their wish for independence. Admittedly, neediness underlies the fundamental premise of attachment theory: the continuous attempt to maintain strong bonds with significant others (Bowlby, 1980; 2005a). This tendency is expected to be more persistent among adopted individuals, in light of the weakness or absence of already established bonds.

Independence and the need for personal space were also apparent across all developmental timepoints: participants articulated elevated capacity for initiating action independently and for valuing their personal space. Admittedly, the progressive detachment from the parental core in order to acquire independence is key to development during adolescence (Damour, 2023; Erikson, 1950; Freud, 1958). However, participants’ need for independence was prominent across the data at all three timepoints, suggesting that this need might emerge prematurely or persist into adulthood. Also, considering birth parents’ possible inability to provide basic care, it stands to reason that the participants expressed a heightened sense of independence early on. Given the relative gap in the literature, the present study’s finding that neediness and independence exist concurrently stresses the need for further research.

3.2. ‘Let children have fun’: Appreciating childhood bliss

Interestingly, participants’ childhood narratives did not bring up any blissful childhood experiences (e.g., parties, sleepovers, etc.). Instead, this content emerged as later reminiscence, when they began to value childhood as if they had somewhat lacked it. Admitting that she had to ‘grow up quite quickly’, Rebecca perhaps suggested that that process could have been more gradual so that she could enjoy childhood more light-heartedly. As already mentioned, the literature concerning adoption-related losses is extensive (Ballús and Pérez-Téstor, 2017; Barroso and Barbosa-Ducharne, 2019; Brodzinsky, 2014; Mitchell, 2018; Neil, 2012; Soares et al., 2019). If further assessed and corroborated as a finding, the loss of childhood among maltreated children could add to Brodzinsky's (2014) list of the types of losses experienced by adopted children. A more extensive exploration of this theme among adopted individuals is needed.