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Cognitive Abilities of Children at 7 and 12 Years of Age in the Colorado Adoption Project

Sally J. Wadsworth is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, and is supported by a predoctoral training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

J. C. DeFries

J.C. DeFries, PhD, is professor of psychology and director of the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder. He is director of the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center and cofounded the Colorado Adoption Project in 1975 with Robert Plomin. He also serves as a consulting editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities.

David W. Fulker

David W. Fulker, PhD, is professor of psychology at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder. He is a coinvestigator of both the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center and the Colorado Adoption Project and is executive editor of the journal Behavior Genetics. Address: Sally J. Wadsworth, Institute for Behavioral Genetics, Campus Box 447, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309.

To test the hypothesis that adopted children are at an elevated risk for learning disabilities, the achievement and WISC-R test scores of a nonclinical sample of adopted and nonadopted (control) children were compared at 7 years of age (n = 108 adopted males, 91 adopted females, 116 control males, 100 control females) and 12 years of age (n = 69 adopted males, 61 adopted females, 56 control males, 44 control females). Although the average Verbal IQ of the adopted children was significantly lower than that of the nonadopted children at both ages, these differences accounted for only about 2% to 4% of the variance. When scores on the individual subtests of the WISC-R were compared, the group difference was significant only for Similarities at age 7, and for Comprehension at age 12. Moreover, with regard to the achievement tests, the proportion of adopted children who scored more than 1.5 standard deviations below expected, based on IQ, was not significantly greater than that of controls. Also, the proportions of adopted and control children placed in special education classes were not significantly different. Thus, the results of this study provide little or no evidence for an increased risk of learning disabilities in "easily placed" adopted children.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 26, No. 9, 611-615 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/002221949302600911


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