Over a multi-wave study, however, results may under-represent adjustment difficulties, especially with family and friends. Within a single wave of data collection, there was no evidence that selective responding contributes much bias. There were no differences in parent ratings of adjustment for a single wave of data collection however, participants who never responded reported poorer family and peer adjustment than those who had responded to at least one wave of data collection. The children (47% male) ranged in age from 2 to 20 years ( M = 10.79, SD = 4.59) and had been adopted between 5 and 54 months of age ( M = 15.49, SD = 9.94). Parents were telephoned and asked about their adopted child's family, school, peer, and behavioral adjustment. Participants were 121 parents from a larger four-wave study of post-institutionalized children, identified as Never Responders, Previous Responders (but not to the current wave), or Wave 4 Responders. The current study addresses the impact of selective responding in a single wave of data collection and in a multi-wave study. Selective responding bias, though under-researched, is of particular concern in the study of post-institutionalized children because many studies rely on mailed questionnaires and response rates are often low.
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