The aim of the study was to investigate mental health and resilience in adolescents who
have been internationally adopted and their non-adopted peers and examine the potential
interaction between adoption status and resilience on mental health problems. Data from
the population based youth@hordaland-survey, conducted in Hordaland County, Norway,
in 2012 was used. In all, 10 257 adolescents aged 16e19 years provided self-reported data
on several mental health instruments. Of these, 45 adolescents were identified as internationally
adopted. Adoptees reported more symptoms of depression, attention-deficit/
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and perfectionism
than non-adopted adolescents, but there were no differences regarding resilience. Adolescents
with higher resilience scores reported fewer symptoms of mental health problems,
however, no interaction effects were found for adoption status and total resilience
score on measures of mental health problems. Our findings indicate that knowledge of
resilience factors can form the basis for preventive interventions.