Adoption Research and Critique

Adoption Research and Critique

…current adoption studies, critically considered

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“Behavioral outcomes for substance-exposed adopted children: Fourteen years postadoption.” March 26, 2009

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The prenatal development is very crucial in a child’s overall development. The decisions that the mother makes while pregnant can either benefit, or harm her expected child. In this study, the researchers take a closer look on the development of adopted children, and determine whether or not prenatal substance abuse has affected their life. This is a longitudinal study designed to observe these adopted children 14 years post-adoption. Since it is proven that many drugs can alter the cognitive development of the child, this child may struggle later in life academically, behaviorally, and socially. However, one of the most important factors in a child’s development is their lifestyle after birth.

            As an adopting parent, it may be difficult to cope with having a child with disabilities, but if the family is prepared and knows the child’s history and medical background, they can provide a positive care giving environment. Having this outcome in mind could help to decrease the chances of adoption disruption. In the California Long-Range Adoption Study, the researchers performed a longitudinal study in which they observed a set of adopted children in 4 different waves. The different waves consisted observing the different behaviors of the children, the adopted parents, and the adopted family as a whole through a series of questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered 2, 4, 8, and 14 years post-adoption.

            This study showed that the substance-exposed children showed more behavior problems, but in gradual time non-exposed children exhibited similar behavior. Additionally, similar behaviors remained stable amongst both groups. In my opinion, this study was a great way to show the long-term effects in exposed and non-exposed children. My expectations were somewhat wrong, as I thought that the exposed children would have more problems, but in actuality their development could change overtime depending on the environment in which they are raised. Regardless of my expectations, and the findings, I think it is important for a mother to take full responsibility in the development of her child, and do the best to make sure he/she turns out happy and healthy.

 

“Behavioral outcomes for substance-exposed adopted children: Fourteen years postadoption.” Crea, Thomas M.; Barth, Richard P.; Guo, Shenyang; Brooks, Devon; American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol 78(1), Jan 2008. pp. 11-19. [Journal Article]

 

 

 

 

Age at Placement, Adoption Experience and Adult People’s Contact with their Adoptive and Birth Mothers: An Attachment Perspective March 10, 2009

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David Howe conducted this study to asses the relationship between attachment and adult adoptee’s contact with birth mothers. The data he collected as well as the participants were part of a larger study comparing adoptees who were categorized as “searchers,” those who had actively searched for their birth mothers, and “non-searchers,” those who had  experienced birth mothers seeking them out. All except 32 of the participants had experienced some kind of contact with their birth mother. A questionnaire was mailed to 451 and completed by 394 searcher and non-searcher adoptees. The survey was composed of 90 questions assessing issues surrounding participant’s feelings about their adoptions, closeness to birth and adoptive mothers, outcomes of reunions with birth mothers, and reasons for searching.

The results show that age at placement is closely related to attachment to adoptive parents and therefore is closely related to contact with birth mothers. In general, Howe found that adult adoptees who were older at placement (2 years or older,) were less likely to have contact with their birth mothers than adoptees placed as infants, feel that they do not “belong” in their adoptive families, and tend to feel less loved by their adoptive mothers. Patterns of contact between adoptees and birth mothers were also analyzed, supporting age at placement as a factor contributing to frequency of contact two years after the initial reunion.

Howe interpreted the results as related to attachment and early childhood experiences. He believes that since attachment issues to adoptive mothers can be caused by early abuse and neglect (either by birth parents or foster parents,) adult adoptees who have not experienced these situations will be more equipped to handle reunions with birth mothers due to secure attachment styles.

This study is useful not only because it tells us about patterns of contact between adoptees and birth mothers, but also because it teaches us about the effects of early abuse and neglect on attachment. This research paper was well written and the background information provided a thorough understanding of previous work done on this topic. The results shed light on the relationship of contact between adoptees and birth mothers and attachment, something I had not previously thought about.

Howe, David. (2001) Age at Placement, Adoption Experience and Adult People’s Contact with their Adoptive and Birth Mothers: An Attachment Perspective. Attachment and Human Development, 3,2, 222-237.

Bridging the Divide March 10, 2009

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This study takes an in depth look at the connection between openness in adoption and post adoption adjustment of birth and adoptive parents. Openness in adoption occurs at varying degrees depending on the comfort of the adoptive parents. The researchers hypothesized that higher levels of openness in adoption significantly and positively relate to post adoption well-being, measured by participant’s satisfaction with adoption process and post adoption adjustment. The participants consisted of 531 birthmothers, 38 adoptive families (359 of which linked to adoptive triads), and 112 birth fathers linked to their adoptive triad. Using independent questionnaires and interviews at about the same time length (6-8 months after baby has been with the mother) adoptive parents and birth mothers are assessed. 3 subscales are independently reported by each birth and adoptive parent: perceived openness, actual contact between adoptive and birth parents, and amount of knowledge of one another between birth and adoptive parents. Then the scores are combined to an aggregated openness measure for each birth parent. In a separate analysis, the results of the study for birthfathers showed that birth fathers reported higher satisfaction with the adoption process when they had higher levels of control in deciding the levels of openness in adoption. As for the birth mothers and adoptive mothers, the sample perceived that their adoption process was slightly open. The degree of openness in the adoption process was significantly related to satisfaction with the adoption process.

In today’s day and age, open adoption has become a modern and accepted alternative to closed or private adoptions. Openness in adoption is a topic of interest for many parents and this study provides an important look at the inside of the triad and how they feel about open adoption. Something particularly unique pointed out in the study is that birth fathers were included in the study. As mentioned, there is such a void in that department because many birthfathers are not included in the adoption process and while there was only a small sample and finding in the study, it remains an important start to an area that needs more attention. More information in the conclusion on what ideas are being made to pursue that avenue would have been interesting as well. One aspect in the study that was beneficial was that the birth and adoptive mothers were interviewed and filled out questionnaires. A personal interview allows the interviewer to ask a set of pre determined questions as well use an answer to prompt a different question. With a questionnaire, the person being interviewed may feel comfortable to write more personal responses as well as fill in details that may not have been answered in the interview. Additionally, the interviewers were highly trained and evaluated so it seems like a reliable measure.

 

Ge, X., Leve, L., Martin, D., Natsuaki, M., Neiderhiser, J., Reid, J., Reiss, D., Scaramella, L., Shaw, D. (Aug 2008). Bridging the Divide: Openness in adoption and postadoption psychosocial adjustment among birth and adoptive parents. Journal of Family Psychology Vol 22(4). 529-540.

 

Psychologists’ Attitudes Toward Gay and Lesbian Parenting March 10, 2009

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            “How does the average practicing psychologist view a gay or lesbian couple wishing to adopt a child?”  This study aims to answer this question by examining the characteristics psychologists ascribe to the two individual members of such a couple and the relationship they have with one another.  The reason for the researchers’ interest in this matter concerns the discrimination that gay and lesbian couples continue to have to deal with in the adoption process, even when children who live in foster care are in desperate need of a permanent adoption that is unlikely to occur on account of the critical shortage of adoptive parents.  The sample used in this study was created by means of a random selection of psychologists from a list of 1,000 American Psychological Association members who had earned a Ph.D. in either clinical or counseling psychology.  The resulting 388 participants, who were blind to the true nature of the study, were then instructed to read one of six possible vignettes that described a couple along with a 5-year old child who the couple wanted to adopt.  These vignettes differed from each other only in respect to the sexual orientation of the couple (gay, lesbian, or heterosexual) and the gender of the child (male or female).  After a participant finished reading the particular vignette they were given, they would complete a questionnaire created by the researchers, called the 10-item Couples Rating Scale, which would assess their evaluation of the couple in areas such as “financial stability,” “ability to teach moral values,” and most importantly, “likelihood he or she would recommend the couple should be awarded custody of the child.”  The resulting data reveals that those psychologists who rated either the lesbian couple or the gay couple with the female child were less likely to recommend custody of the child for these couples than those psychologists who rated the heterosexual couple with either a male or female child.

The authors/researchers of this research article did a flawless job, in my opinion, in their construction of it.  I was most impressed with all of the suggestions and arguments they make about the possible causes and explanations of the many results they discuss from the multivariate analyses of variance concerning the etiology of homosexuality and religiosity.  The amount of past research they reference in support of their claims is another key strength of the presentation of their research.  The only weaknesses I could find throughout the article were ones that they had already acknowledged as potential issues.  The first of these concerned the weaknesses associated with survey analogue research designs.  In discussing what the findings of this study seem to suggest, i.e. that the only psychologists who really have an issue with gay and lesbian parenting are those who view homosexuality as a choice one makes in life and those who are highly theistic, the researchers entertain the argument I mentioned above concerning survey analogue research designs.  They admit that it is possible, given the nature of the issue of gay parenting, that demand characteristics may have been responsible for causing politically correct responses if participants were able to uncover the true nature of the study.  They further admit that it is equally possible for demand characteristics to have influenced who chose to participate in the study.  Given these possibilities of response bias and self-selection, the researchers admit that restrictions on the generalizability of the study are warranted.

 

 

 

Crawford, I., McLeod, A., Zamboni, B., & Jordan, M. (1999). Psychologists’ Attitudes toward Gay and Lesbian Parenting. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30(4), 394-401.

“Family interactions in adoptive compared to nonadoptive families” March 10, 2009

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While looking at some of the issues that children face within their families, one of the biggest ones has to deal with whether they are adopted, or biological kin. In the article “Family interactions in adoptive compared to nonadoptive families”, Martha Rueter, Margaret Keyes, William Iacono, and Matt McGue take a closer look at the relationships that are developed amongst children and their parents. The researchers designed a study in which she tested the levels of parental control, warm and supportive communication, and parent-child conflict across adoptive and non-adoptive families. In order to test these different levels, they used two different measures in order to gather more accurate information.

            Through self-reported family interactions, each family member had to rate a series of statements according to the different levels given, and base it on how much they felt it applied to their experience. Each parent was responsible for rating all of their children, while each child had to rate both of their parents. Another measure that the researchers applied to their study was observer-reported data. Videotapes recorded the family interactions, and were then rated on a 12 point scale according to the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study Rating Scales. The observers were required to go through various forms of training, and in order to assess observer reliability, 25% of all of the tapes were assigned to a second observer.

            After comparing the different family interactions, results were more favorable amongst the non-adoptive families. The results showed that the adoptive families exhibited less warm and supportive communication, while showing more parent-child conflict. The levels of parental control, however, were mixed. More adoptive parents reported having higher levels of control, but no significant amount was recorded.

            I think the design of this study was great in showing all aspects of family life. Among the different levels, families could not only rate themselves, but others were observed by trained professionals. Having these two measures helped to create a more accurate conclusion. Additionally, the two measures helped to discover the similarities, as well as the big differences, that might help explain some the developmental problems that some adopted children might have. Since the study was designed to observe the adolescent behavior, I think it might be necessary to also view infant behavior as well as adult behavior. Although the infant/toddler stage may be hard to have accurate results due to their age, I feel as though the adult stage could be very beneficial. For adults who were adopted, you could see how they might have changed overtime, or even understand the person who they became after being adopted. Adoption has made a difference in many people’s lives, and it’s only important to make sure that it’s a success for everyone that is involved.

 

 “Family interactions in adoptive compared to nonadoptive families” Rueter, Martha A.; Keyes, Margaret A.; Iacono, William G.; McGue, Matt; Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 23(1), Feb 2009. pp. 58-66.

 

 

Alisha Andrade

 

 

Psychological Adjustment in Adult Adoptees: Assessment of Distress, Depression, and Anger March 10, 2009

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            While a considerable amount of research has been conducted on the psychological adjustment of adoptees, hardly any of this research has focused on the adjustment of adoptees during adulthood as researchers have mainly concerned themselves with child and adolescent adoptees with regard to this issue.  Seeing this matter as problematic to the development of the adoption literature, this article aims to expand the body of research that has examined the psychological adjustment of nonclinical populations of adult adoptees.  The sample used in this study was composed of 716 adoptees (525 female and 191 male) which the researchers put together by recruiting those who met the criteria of becoming a participant (i.e. adoptees residing in the United States that were older than 21 years of age and who were placed before the age of 2 in the home of their newly adoptive family, which had no relation to their birth family) from places such as adoption conferences or via the Internet.  In order to assess their psychological adjustment, each adult adoptee had to complete self-report measures of overall distress (Brief Symptom Inventory), depressive symptomatology (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale), and anger (Anger Content Scale of the MMPI-2), along with a demographics questionnaire (Personal Data Questionnaire) which included questions concerning their search status and the extent to which they used mental health services during their lifetime.  The resulting data reveals a significantly higher level of psychological maladjustment in adult adoptees when compared with the normative data of nonadoptees; however, these measures did not approach levels typical of outpatient norms.

            The obvious strength of this article that readily comes to mind rests in the simple fact that the researchers fulfilled the purpose they assigned to their study; namely, their research concerning the psychological adjustment in adult adoptees naturally expanded its research base.  Conversely, one basic weakness of the study that stood out to me was the fact that participants were not randomly selected.  This, of course, could have a potential effect on the external validity of the study’s results, thus restricting the extent to which the researchers can generalize their findings.  Also, the key finding concerning search status was that Nonsearchers reported the least maladjustment on every dependent variable while Searchers reported the most.  This result implies two possible conclusions: (1) searching for one’s biological heritage is a stressful process that contributes to the differences between search groups; and (2) psychological distress causes adoptees to search for their biological heritage.  Unfortunately, this finding exposes a limitation since the correlational data of the study cannot determine cause and effect which therefore makes it impossible to figure out which conclusion is the correct one.

 

Cubito, D., & Obremski Brandon, K. (2000). Psychological Adjustment in Adult Adoptees: Assessment of Distress, Depression, and Anger. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70(3), 408-413.

Evaluating Older Pre-Adoptive Foster Children March 10, 2009

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This article discusses the methods and procedures for performing comprehensive psychological assessments with older pre-adoptive foster children. An older pre-adoptive child  first becomes available for adoption at the age of 15 months or over, but who is likely to range from 2-12 years of age. These children are likely to experience physical or sexual abuse, neglect of basic needs, and various degrees of abandonment.  Providing a valid and honest appraisal of the youth creates the best prospect for placement. When serious psychological emotional problems are apparent psychological assessment may be sought by agencies, courts, or potential adoptive parents.  Children diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder, learning disability, or other conditions are less likely to receive an adoption placement than other children perceived as “normal.” Also, testing can be done if there is a more than one party seeking the child for adoption, and who is the best placement.  This test is appropriate because it creates the appropriate expectations for future needs and experiences with the child.

                Many younger children placed after fifteen years of age have been the subject of numerous juvenile or family court hearings dealing with issues of abuses, neglect or abandonment.  It is very important for the psychologist to have a thorough understanding of the child’s background, the impact of prior events, and possible placements for the child. The psychologist must take into account the child’s understand towards adoption and their wishes for the future.  When the foster care workers report to the court to terminate the parental rights they must present detail information of the various problems with the children welfare system, and the reasons the child is aware from his home. The psychologist must predict the types of problems that could occur during the rest of the child’s developing years and suggest possible indicators of these problems. Also, psychologist should suggest ways to eliminate behavioral problems, such as avoidance of scary movies. When the rights are terminated the agency or court is typically the guardian, and the appropriate official will sign the release.  Agencies normally attempt to place siblings together in one home, even if they had been placed in separate homes during foster case. When a new family is ready to adopt a child, the social worker recommends them to speak to an experienced foster care parents.

Generally the strengths of this study provide a good example of the adoption process, and the social worker and psychologist’s part.  Although, the fact that Kirby and Hardesty only focused on the process of the pre-foster care children being adopted, and the process of adopting limits this study. If included in the study the aftermath of the children being adopted, and how the foster family is dealing with the adoption would of strengthened this study.

Kirby K. & Hardesty P (1998) Evaluating Older Pre-Adoptive Foster Children Professional Psychology Research Practice 29 (5) 428-236

Adoptees Do Not Lack Self-Esteem March 10, 2009

Posted by lquinone in : Research Review, Uncategorized , 3comments

This study, by Femmie Juffer and Netherlands Leiden, looks at the comparison of self -esteem in adopted versus non adopted peers, as well as transracial adoptees versus same-race adoptees. Both adopted and transracial adoptees were predicted to have lower self- esteem than their non adopted peers and same-race adoptees, respectively. This is due to a number of factors for instance, that prior to being adopted, children often face various adversities such as neglect and abuse, or malnutrition, as well as the matter that transracial adoptees may feel less a part of their adoptive families. In addition, according to past research findings, there are a number of departments, including physical, cognitive, and socioemotional, in which adopted children fall behind the norm of their peers. The questions that concern Juffer and Leiden are whether adoptees show better self-esteem than non-adopted, institutionalized peers, whether those areas in which adopted children fall behind are found in the area of self esteem, and whether the level of self-esteem is different in transracial and same race adoptees. Juffer and Leiden hypothesized that adoptees would have higher levels of self-esteem compared to peers in institutions, adopted children would show lower self-esteem than their non adopted peers, kids adopted after their first birthday obtain lower self-esteem than when adopted as babies, children in adolescence would have lower self-esteem than in other life stages, and that transracial or international adoptees would have lower self-esteem than same race or domestic adoptions.

The study examined 3 separate meta-analyses of 88 studies of 33,862 non adopted peers and 10,977 adoptees, of 3 studies of 210 adoptees and 90 children in children’s homes, and of 18 studies of more than 2,000 adoptees. In the first meta-analysis, results were not significant: adoptees did not differ in self-esteem compared to peers. The findings also showed that pre adoption obstacles were unrelated to effect size of study, and adoptees struggling with self-esteem particularly in adolescence was not supported. In the second meta-analysis, the results comparing adopted children and institutionalized children were significant. Adoptees showed higher levels of self-esteem than did institutionalized children. Finally in a third meta-analysis, the results were not significant and transracial and same race adoptees showed no difference in levels of self-esteem.

I liked how the study obtained results from past research findings, in contrast to most studies that do specific research from a sample of people. It strengthened the article because rather than doing an additional study on comparing self esteem of the various participants involved, Juffer and Leiden took other studies on the topic to have a broad range of the research that has been done, and then analyzed that material to find that contrary to originally hypothesized, there maintains no difference in levels of self-esteem among adoptees and non adopted peers. Initially, I had agreed with the study’s hypotheses and was surprised at the findings in the results. Thus I thought it was helpful in understanding the results better because possible explanations in the discussion were expressed, such as adoptees resilience to overcome early adversity and strong support from adoptive families. The one weakness that seemed more confusing to me was that the publication outlet made a difference in certain results. The study showed that self-esteem was reported as better in publications in books, than in publications in journals. There was only a brief note about this in the article but I think this should have been taken more into account. This study is an important research finding, but I also think that it can be an important article to read for future adoptive parents or parents who are unsure about adopting a child. Many parents may be apprehensive of adopting children, especially it they are not a baby, and it is important to express to these parents that a positive nurturing family and other factors mentioned in the article can help establish a comfortable self-esteem. As well as the matter that just because the child is adopted, does not mean they are automatically pre-determined to have low self-self esteem.

 

Juffer, F., Van Ijzendoorn, M. (Nov 2007). Adoptees do not lack self esteem: A meta analysis of studies on self esteem of transracial, international, and domestic adoptees. Psychological Bulletin. Vol 133(6). 1067-1083. 

 

The Experience of Adoptive Parents in Adoption Reunion Relationships: A Qualitative study March 10, 2009

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Adoption in Australia in the 1960’s and 1970’s was seen as a solution to problems.  Young mothers had the opportunity to deal with the shame of having a baby either being too young, or not being able to raise the child financially.  Also, it provided struggling couples trying to have a baby the opportunity of becoming a parent.  Rights of adoptees to know their genealogical information and the rights of birthparents were finally recognized and fought for at this time. By recognizing this, adoptees and birth parents were able to contact each other.  There are factors that prevent adoptees to delay contacting their birth parents.  These factors include fearing hurting the adoptive parents, feeling divided, fearing an unsympathetic reaction from the birth family, being concerned that contact may open old wounds, and fearing the unknown.  Affleck and Steed found that the degree of support from the adoptive family was important to adoptees in such for their birth parents. Adoptees included there adoptive families in search of their birth parents included them in the reunion process. Although, adoptees that felt their adoptive families did not support the reunion process limited their findings to avoid conflict and to protect their birth parents.

                Adoptive parents undergo a range of emotions when their adoptive children begin the search for the birth parents.  They have a fear of losing their child, and have anxiety about losing closeness.  Also, the adoptive parents express concerns of how their child’s birth family will treat him/her.  The study included twenty-one adoptive parents and children who were at least 18 years of age, in which had a reunion with at least one of their biological parents. Four adoptive parents had one adopted child, 13 had two, and four had three adoptive children.  Six had an initial face to face meeting with a birthparent, and no further contact at the time of the interview. Two adoptive parents had passed away following some contact after the meeting. Only one adoptee had participated in a reunion with both her birthparents. Participants of the study were recruited with the support of an agency based in Perth, Western Australia which had information in its newsletter. The adoption agency held an interview with each adoptee constructing demographic questions, and who initiated contact. Results of the interview of the adoptive parents showed a number of factors. Adoptive parents had a fear that the adoptees involvement in contact the birthparent would have an end to their parenthood.  A second finding in the study was the adoptive parents  questioned their worthiness and entitlement to have ever adopted an adoptee. They felt as though they were under close watch, and had no room for error. While some adoptive parents felt as though they needed the birth parents approval.  Thirdly, the mothers and fathers that experienced infertility before adopted experienced grief of never having being able to have their own.  Also, the adoptive parents acknowledged the grief and pain that the birthparents had of losing their child. Almost all adoptive parents felt that this was an important life stage for the adoptees and put their feelings and reactions second. All but two adoptive parents agreed that the reunion process was important for adoptees. The adoptive parents resolved some of their experiences and emotions through the reunion outcome by being what the adoptee wanted.

                     Generally, I believe that this ariticle did a good job explaining the emotions and involvement that adoptive parents face through the reunion process. I do however, wish that the article mentioned the adoptee’s stories and emotions through the adoption process, and not just focusing on the adoptive parents.  Instead, the adoptee’s reactions and responses were presented through the eyes of their adoptive parents. In this limitation, the conclusions cannot be assumed to present the adoptee’s actual experience. Another weakness in the study is that a lot of the adoptive parents were actively involved in the reuinion search.  In my opinion, it would of been very interesting to learn more about the parents who did not participate or support the reunion process of the birth parents.  Although, the study supported the evidence that adoptive parents showed real support of the adoptee’s finding their birth parents. Also, I was happy to learn that a lot of the adoptive parents were happy of the outcomes of the reunion, and gave there best effort.  A major strength in the study that it included the psychological processes and emotional responses for adoptive parents as their children proceeded with the search and reunion.

Petta G. & Steed L (2005) The Experience of Adoptive Parents in Adoption Reunion Relationships: A Qualitative Study American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 75(2) 230-241

Adoptee dissimilarity from the adoptive family:clinical practice and research implications. March 10, 2009

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Many times when it comes to adopted children there can be what is called “dissimilarities” between them and the adoptive caregivers. In addition to knowing this, it raises the controversy on whether or not there should be interracial adoptions. This being because the child can feel even less of a connection with their adoptive families. This article further examines this topic and tries to fully understand the child’s identity development.

According to the article it is a fact that when speaking about interracial adoptions the United States has defined it as White Caucasian parents adopting another race. Leslie Hollingsworth, the one who wrote the article goes on to examine other literature to help answer her questions and back up her theories about dissimilarity and adoption. She found that there are four important categories that it all breaks down into: identity development, searching for birth families, satisfaction with the adoption and over all adjustment.

The first topic of identity development is thought to be the most predominant category, this being because finding your own identity has its hardships on its own, not to mention the difficulties it would be to try to find yourself if you were in a family with a different background.  You lose your sense of feeling fully accepted and often seek for belonging. The adoptive parents should include the childs history and let them fully understand their background so that they can try to develop a sense of oneself even if they are a different color from their parents. It’s better off for the child if they are of a different race to be informed on their birth families and where they came from. The child needs to be aware of their culture from their past and their current one, this is the only successful way the child can develop a normal sense of self instead of seeking it out in fantasy.

In most interracial adoptions the child seeks out searching for their birth parents. They acquire the need to see what their parents look like and if they look similar to them, they want to know if they had taken on similar traits from them as well. This may be an important step to finding their identity and who they really are. Although, in one study it said that there wasn’t any need for the adoptees to seek out their birth parents to find their identity and they did not care about where their appearances came from. Even so, most studies have found an occurrence of adopted children try to find their birth families for reassurance to their identity.

The category of satisfaction comes into account when there is dissimilarity because of the lack of satisfaction with their adoptive parents. In one study, the adoptive parents as well as the adopted children were later interviewed when the children were older. They wanted to know how the parents felt they connected and raised the child and how the child was satisfied with the outcome. The findings were that the adoptive parents were most satisfied with the adoption when the child they adopted was most similar to them. This included appareance, intelligence, mannerisms, and more. 97% of the parents were satisified when the child was most like them compared to 62% of the parents who had children unlike them.

The last category describes the adjustment relationship and dissimilarity. This was mostly about the childs adjustment to their appareance differences to their adoptive parents. They found that it mainly depended on whether or not the child was in a well adjusted home or not. More than half the children in well adjusted homes didn’t find that their difference in appareanes was a huge dissimliarity. A lot of the time the discomfort depended on the age at which the child was adopted, the age of the child when the study was given, their past, and also their attitudes toward being adopted.

It all comes down to the identity issues of the child being adopted, there are many questions that arise when going through with a transracial adoption. These studies in this article are provided to show that there are dissimilarities in this sort of adoption and that the agencies and people should be more aware of what they are getting into and how they can make it better for the child.

Hollingsworth Doty, Leslie. (1998). Adoptee dissimilarity from the Adoptive Family: Clinical Practice and Research Implications. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 15(4). 303-318.

Disinhibited attachment behaviours and secure base distortions with special reference to adopted children. March 10, 2009

Posted by scrownsh in : Research Review , 1 comment so far

This article contains information about attachment disorders in adopted children. A man from London who works with adopted children proceeds to do a follow up with them and their parents years later. His findings all had something very interesting in common; the children all exhibited problem behaviors. These behaviors consisted of acting aggressively, stealing, lying, fighting and failing to act upon their consequences.

Howe comes the realization that the children with these problems were ones that had been previously abused or neglected, most commonly found in the ones that had been adopted at an older age. He goes on to say that the parents are neglectful of the child they adopt in the sense that they don’t recognize their childs past and because of this the children cannot develop a secure attachment with their adoptive parents. These specific kids need special attention and needs. When these needs are not met there is a development of a reactive attachment disorder.

Howe gets his information and knowledge from Zeanah and O’Connor who were wrote many pieces on attachment disorders. He agrees with some of what they refer to in their papers, but  has his own ideas on how attachment disorders should be viewed. He describes that there are two important attachments that are proclaimed to be most commonly found in the adopted children, one being Disorganized and the other being Controlling. Disorganized simply being that the child has a history of abuse and had already developed an attachment disorder. The ones with in the Controlling category are ones that constantly feel not wanted and scared to give relationships a chance. They become hostile and helpless.

With these children a secure attachment has never been developed and they go on feeling this sense of negativity towards becoming attached in the future. People shouldn’t just go by the definition of the attachment disorder like a disorganized or controlling one, as Zeanah and O’Connor have described. Instead, Howe thinks that there is much more to these children and it shouldn’t just be about their beheviours that defines them.

Howe, David. (2003). Attachment disorders: Disinhibited attachment behaviours and secure base distortions with special reference to adopted children. Attachment and Human Development. 5(3), 265-270.

Identity Development and Psychological Well-Being in Korean Born Adoptees in the U.S. March 10, 2009

Posted by ljaeger in : Research Review , 1 comment so far

Doctor Susan Basow published an in depth study that looked at the adjustment of adults who were born in Korea but adopted into white families in the United States. Her study looked at four key areas including ethnic identity, adjustment to adoption, cultural socialization, and psychological well-being. The 83 participants who were used in the study were found through adoption support groups, adoptee forums, and Korean adoptee blog rings, as well as e-newsletters and conferences. Their ages ranged from 18 to 37, their educational backgrounds varied from some high school to doctoral degrees, and their communities stretched from rural areas to urban areas. The oldest age of adoption in the group was 6 years, so for the most part, all adoptees were very young at the time of placement. Measures of assessment were done through a website in which every participant was assigned a numerical identification number. In looking at psychological well being, Basow and her colleagues pulled 3 sub-scales from Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being. They included, personal growth, positive relations with others and self acceptance. Statements such as “I envy many people for the lives they lead” and “I often feel lonely because I have few close friends with whom to share my concerns with” were part of the surveys and participants had to rate them 1 to 6, strongly disagree to strongly agree. To measure ethnic identity the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure was used. To measure adjustment to adoption, two scales were used; the Emotional Reaction Scale and the Adoption Loss Scale. High scores on these scales were correlated with less adoption related losses and therefore better adjustment. Finally, when looking at cultural socialization, the researchers decided to measure exposure to diversity. They used the Multicultural Experience Inventory and high scores were correlated with more exposure to diverse cultural groups.

Findings of this research were mostly relayed through correlational relationships as well as cause and effect. High scores for negative emotions about adoption were common with lower scores on positive relationships with others and on self acceptance. Scores indicating ethnic identity were associated with having more multicultural experiences and adoptions at later ages were correlated with lower self acceptance. The main prediction of the study was thus confirmed and Basow stated that “Social identity predicts psychological well-being.”

I generally thought the study was interesting however it deals with such a small scope of people. Although a lot of the themes looked at could be generalized to other populations of adoptees, the fact that Basow only looked at Koreans in a way limits the study. Also, there was a lot of talk about regression analysis which just made for a really confusing read. One of the limitations brought up by Basow really caught my attention. It was the fact that all of the participants in the study came from sources indicative of someone having identity issues. It is safe to say that someone in an adoption support group already has some concern about his or her ethnic identity or else they would not be there. If this is the case then the entire study could be bias and therefore of no real use. All in all, the study was really well thought out and Basow provided a lot of detail in her report.

Family Life and Adoption Support March 9, 2009

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Adoption policy and practice in England is being reformed and improved in an attempt to increase the number of permanent placements of children in the public care system. According to the Adoption and Children Act of 2002 (‘the Act’) areas of concern which need to be addressed throughout the reform lay within the administrative and court processes involved in permanence planning and the quality of adoption support. Improvements to be implicated in these fields include additional support duties and other financial measures. Since funding is limited and government reforms are not easily achieved, a closer look must be taken at adoptive family life and the distinctive needs of the child, if there is any (which is decided upon, through a number of assessments), whether to provide services and how to allocate them properly. This paper looks at precisely these issues.

In this report, Hart and Lucklock argue that adoptive families indeed, are distinctive from biological families and that support should be prioritized and the proper attention be given to the specific needs/demands of such families. The government, which is in charge of this project, both agrees with this notion while also trying to reinforce the traditional expectations of the autonomy of adoptive families. This sort of double standard is a problem within itself. Analysis of the new legislations and supports show this same ambivalence in the policy. “Current ambiguity and ambivalence about the social role of adoption and the nature of adoptive family life exacerbates the intrinsic obstacles to affective local collaborations for adoption support itself (Hart & Luckock, 2005).” The reconciliation of two contrasting expectations of the policy is what takes the main focus in this paper: replication of family and reparative parenting. Unfortunately this new policy falls short of its goal due to the lack of ability to accommodate for the ambiguous expectations of adoptive family life and kinship. The approach in this project consisted of creating services that were explicitly designed to reduce the risk of adoption disruption. These services were comprised of financial support and professional intervention. The idea behind these services was to coordinate adoption service agencies with mainstream agencies. The reason behind this is simply to benefit the child. This idea of forming an autonomous family life through the assistance and surveillance of the state is precisely what makes adoptive families distinct from “traditional” families.

I think this paper does bring up some very valid points. For instance, the closing thought on what defines an adoptive family as being distinct seems so true. How can something be autonomous and assisted at the same time? Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron? Plus, I feel too much emphasis is being put on differences between “traditional” family life and adoptive family life. I mean, if you look around at non-adoptive families these days, I’m sure you would find many families that don’t follow the traditional code. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with the attempt at changing the type of supports or the policies that govern the adoption process. I’m just not so sure so much of the focus needs to be put on differences between different types of families, so much as acquiring effective systems to aid in adoption process of finding and maintaining a successful adoption placement.

Hart, Angie & Luckock, Barry. (May 2005). Adoptive Family life and Adoption Support: Policy Ambivalence and the Development of Effective Services. Child Family Social Work. 10 (2), 125-134

Did I Make the Grade? Ethical Issues in Psychological Screening of Children for Adoptive Placement. March 9, 2009

Posted by ctsulliv in : Research Review , 1 comment so far

The United States has many children that are still in the foster care system who are between the ages of two and twelve. Many social workers are frantically trying to find long-term homes for these children. In some cases psychological screenings for normalcy are ordered by prospective families, the court system, or other prospective parties. This article was about the psychological normalcy evaluations and the child’s right to psychological integrity and privacy. There are three objectives to this article, “The child in care is always the client regardless of who has hired the psychologist to do the assessment, there are important ethical issues concerning the use of psychological evaluations that are driven by pressure from various consumer groups rather than the needs of the actual client, and psychologists have a duty to act as advocate for the child in foster care”.

            Psychologists put the children at risk for mental health diagnosis while conducting the experiments. If the child does not meet the standards for normalcy then often times they will have trouble being adopted. A conflict of interest may become a problem in the psychological testing as well. There may be potential for bias among psychologists because if most children were screened as being normal then there would be no need for the test. Psychologists may also want to advocate for the child and have to stay away from doing that. Also if the court orders a psychological screening then that automatically becomes a court record for anyone interested to view. The psychological screening is not in the best interest of the child but rather the external parties, which is not ethical in the study of psychology and psychiatry.

            I think that this was a very interesting article to read. I also agree with much of what is being said. If there are no indicators for the child to be assessed for normalcy, then I do not see a reason to conduct the screening. One of the children in the paper switched schools multiple times because of multiple placements stated that she would not attach herself to anyone because she was always being moved around. This may not been seen as normal and after being screened would make it harder for her to be adopted. I also believe that there are better ways for perspective families to find out information about a child. Like the article said, interviews could be set up between prospective families and the child. The foster care system many times has detailed information about the history of the child. This would not place the child at risk for mental health diagnosis by professionals. The child should have rights to their privacy and if the child is screened then it should be his/her decision to share those results with a prospective family. The testing has very high stakes and could harm the child. If the foster care child is always considered the client then psychologists should feel the need to protect the interests of that child and not of other parties. In conducting these experiments they are abusing articles 2 and 6 of the American Psychiatric Association.

 

Grover, S. (2004, June). Did I Make the Grade? Ethical Issues in Psychological Screening of Children for Adoptive Placement. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry: An International Journal of Critical Inquiry, 6(2), 125-133. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from PsycINFO database.

Environmental Influences on Reading-Related Outcomes: An Adoption Study March 9, 2009

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In this study, the researchers wanted to test the role that genetic factors and environmental factors play in child reading-related outcomes. Using data from the Northeast-Northwest Collaborative Adoption Projects, they reviewed the levels of cognitive functioning necessary for reading acquisition present in 1797 adoptive families for both children and adults as well as characteristics of the environment of the adopted home to see whether these variables were correlated with child reading outcomes. Cognitive functioning was quantified in children through tests measuring phonological awareness, general intelligence (Stanford-Binet), picture vocabulary, word attack, and letter/word identification, and in adults through general intelligence (Stanford-Binet) and word attack. Environmental factors that were examined included parent educational attitudes, number of books parents read/month, number of hours children spent on homework, number of books brought home, and parental involvement.

The results indicated that the cognitive functioning of the adoptive parent had little significant effects on children’s reading acquisition, and where there were slight effects they only seemed to apply to younger children. Parental pseudoword decoding had a positive correlation with younger children’s phonological awareness. The environmental variables, including parental involvement, expectations, and the number of books the child brought home regularly, did have more significant effects for older children, and were more broadly correlated with phonological awareness across all child age ranges. Number of books brought home was positively correlated with phonological awareness, and parental expectations were correlated with better phonological awareness in children, particularly in older children. Ease in acquiring reading skills was correlated with lower numbers of expected homework hours.

Since children adopted by nonrelatives are not related to their caregivers, they help test the strength of the biological hypothesis for language acquisition. Ultimately the research seemed to indicate that shared environmental influences (birth parent and child genetic factors) seemed to be slightly influential for early reading success in younger children, and non-shared environmental influences (adoptive parent environmental factors) were more influential in older children. Adoption studies like this one are often referred to as natural experiments, because the varieties of care offered to children allow researchers to draw correlations without having to manipulate the group variables. However, one of the drawbacks of a design like this is that each subject is not randomly assigned. For instance, the majority of the children in this study were interracial and transnational adopted by white middle-class parents. Individual variation might have had effects on the correlations, particularly with regard to children’s phonological awareness, general cognitive ability, and letter/word identification, as the authors note. This seems plausible considering the study involved so many children representing so many different nationalities and native tongues.

Another aspect that might have had an influence on the results is that it was not appropriate for all children to take the same test batteries, as the youngest children did not possess the ability to take the tests and the oldest had outgrown the specific content the some of the tests were measuring. This is particularly important, because for success in reading outcomes, different age groups seemed to need different things from their adoptive parents. Though the finding support current research findings, it would be interesting to test the strength of these age-based and individual variables.

Petrill, S., Deater-Deckard, K., Schatschneider, C., & Davis, C. (2007, March). Environmental influences on reading-related outcomes: An adoption study. Infant and Child Development, 16(2), 171-191.

Behavior Problems and Mental Health Contacts in Adopted, Foster, and Nonadopted Children March 9, 2009

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This study assessed the differences in behavior problems and the likelihood of receiving treatment comparing adopted, nonadopted, and fostered children (ages 5-17) using data from the National Health Interview Survey/Child Health Supplement (NHIS/CHS) along with behavioral assessments and questionnaires for caretakers. Only children who had full case histories were represented in the data, and were divided into three groups; nonadopted children in the birth parent group (BP) represented the wide majority of subjects, a non-relative adopted group (NRA) were the second largest, and the last group consisted of a fostered group (FC).Time of placement was considered for the NRA group as well.

First, the results showed that on behavioral problems, foster children seemed to display the most problem behaviors, followed by adopted children placed after 6 months of age, before 6 months of age, and nonadopted children. Second, the results showed that foster children were most likely to receive mental health treatment, followed by adopted children placed after six months of age, before sex months of age, and nonadopted children. Children placed after 6 months of age between the ages of 5 and 11 did not present more behavior problems than nonadopted children, and foster children between the ages of 12 to 17 years did not present more behavioral problems than nonadopted children, but otherwise adopted and fostered children presented more behavioral problems and received more treatment than nonadopted children. Ad hoc analysis revealed though that small sample sizes of adopted and fostered children increased the effects of extreme cases. Once these cases were removed, behavioral problems and amount of mental health contacts for all groups were no more significant than one another.

The results of this study seemed to suggest behavior problems that are often associated with adopted children as a whole really only represent more singular or extreme cases. The implication here was that the broad majority of children who are adopted and in foster care are no worse off than nonadopted children in having behavioral problems (symptoms like theft, truancy, delinquency, and other symptoms associated with conduct disorder, as mentioned in the article). The authors speculate that small sample sizes for adopted and fostered children could have skewed the results to appear these children were worse off than nonadopted children. Their ad hoc analysis seems to indicate this as a reasonable explanation. It would be interesting to compare these groups with more equal sizes. Likewise, though fostered children and adopted children had higher numbers of mental health contacts reported as both ever having received treatment and been treated in the last 12 months, once particular influential cases were removed in ad hoc analysis, the level of treatment received was not significantly greater for any group. This seems to indicate that adopted and fostered children who are in most need of treatment for behavioral problems are more likely to receive it, and other children are receive it at a rate no more significantly than nonadopted children.

The authors also mention that though demographic variables were collected (including family income, parents’ education) and measured (age of placement), no information was available about whether these adoptions included interracial or transnational adoptions, or the level of openness, which would have been interesting to see if these variables may have affected the results.

Brand, A., & Brinich, P. (1999). Behavior problems and mental health contacts in adopted, foster, and nonadopted children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40(8), 1221-1229.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adult Life Outcomes: Evidence from the Texas Adoption Project March 9, 2009

Posted by krceli in : Research Review , 1 comment so far

This study looks at the differences between adults adopted as infants and biological children of adoptive parents. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,228 people from 300 adoptive families who were participants in the Texas Adoption Project (Horn et al. 1979) over 30 years prior to the present study. Of the people asked to participate in the survey, 748 completed the questionnaire. Adoptive parents, adopted children (now adults,) and siblings of the adoptees (biological or not) were asked to rate the adoptee on five general dimensions. Some of these dimensions were academic achievement, closeness to parents during junior high and high school, adjustment during junior high and high school, recent personal problems, sociability, independence, conscientiousness, agreeableness, social responsibility, and four of the “Big Five” personality traits. The surveys from each group of responders were compared to assess the differences between biological children and adopted children in adoptive families and the role of genetics on life outcomes within these dimensions. Overall, the researchers found that biological children of adoptive parents have slightly more favorable life outcomes than adoptees. They also found that genes have a significant effects on life outcomes (some outcomes more than others.)

The researchers were very careful to point out the limitations of this study and to caution against taking any of the findings too seriously. They stress that the results only show a slight tendency for life outcomes to be less favorable for adopted children than for biological children. They also make a point to admit that the survey was only one page long, so the results for each of the dimensions are not necessarily precise. This being said, it is a bit disappointing that the survey was not longer. Though many limitations were discussed, future research directions were not. This study is very useful and informational, and gives us clues about the answers to questions that many researchers ponder over. Hopefully this study can be elaborated upon in the future.

Loehlin, J., Horn, J., Ernst, J. (2007) Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adult Life Outcomes: Evidence from the Texas Adoption Project. Behavior Genetics, 37, 3, 463-476.

Identity Development and Psychological well-being in Korean-born Adoptees in the U.S. March 9, 2009

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When children are adopted by families of different cultural backgrounds, the adoptee often finds that they have lost part of who they are. This study looked closely at Korean-born adoptees that had been adopted by Caucasian families and their ethnic identity, adjustment to adoption, cultural socialization, and psychological well-being. “Several studies suggest that mere exposure to diverse ethnic groups, regardless of whether they match the race of the adoptee, is a beneficial contributor to ethnic identity formation of adoptees because the diverse community plays a vital role in developing a nonwhite or minority group identity.” Many researchers believe that exposing an adopted child to different parts of their culture will help them to grow as an individual.

The internet conducted study found its participants from adoption support groups, adoptee forums, Korean adopted blog rings, Korean adopted e-newsletters and adoptee conferences and snowball sampling. Sixty-two females and twenty-one males took the survey on identity development and psychological well-being.

Researchers predicted a couple different hypotheses. Hypothesis 1a stated that “greater cultural socialization experiences would be related to better psychological adjustment”. Hypothesis 1b stated that “stronger ethnic identity also would be related to better psychological well-being and would mediate the relationship between cultural socialization and psychological well-being”. Lastly, hypothesis 2 predicted that “the more positive adjustment to adoption would be associated with better psychological well-being”. To measure theses hypotheses the study included questions on the following areas: psychological well-being, adjustment to adoption, cultural socialization, and ethnic identity. To measure psychological well-being, three scales of Ryff’s scales of Psychological well-being were used. These scales were personal growth, positive relations with others and self acceptance. To measure adjustment to adoption, two measures were used; one from the Emotional Reaction Scale and the other from the Adoption Loss Scale. Cultural Socialization was measured using the Multicultural Experience Inventory and Ethic Identity was measured using the Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure.

The researcher’s predictions were right. Adoptees that had higher levels of ethnic identity did score higher on psychological well-being and that the level of ethnic identity mediated the effect of cultural socialization experiences on a personal level.

This study was very interesting to read about. There were strengths and weakness throughout the study. I liked how the study was sent out to adoptees from different groups and how many different areas were touched upon to get the as much data as the researchers could about identity development and psychological well-being. As the researcher’s have stated, the study did consist of many female participants and I would have liked to see an equal of males and females participating. Many of the participants came from support groups and some of the participants had performed searches for their birthparents. This is important to take into consideration because some of the participants may have been dealing with issues on identity development during the survey. Also the survey targeted people who had computers. I believe that survey’s are an easy way of getting a lot of information from many different people, but they can also be very generic questions and more than one answer may apply.

 

 Basow, S., Lilley, E., Bookwala, J., & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. (2008, October). Identity development and psychological well-being in Korean-born adoptees in the U.S. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(4), 473-480. Retrieved March 9, 2009, doi:10.1037/a0014450

Transracial Adoptees: Developmental Status After 17 Years March 9, 2009

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In the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Dr. Karen Vroegh discusses the fifth and final phase of a longitudinal study she and fellow researchers conducted in order to assess the adjustment of adopted children all of whom were of black dissent. The discussed phase of this study was conducted from 1970 to 1972 while the adoptees were in the later stages of adolescence. Researchers wanted to find out information on identity issues such as general adjustment, self esteem, and racial self identity, as well as peer, parent, and sibling relationships. The adoptees and adopted families came from two private child welfare agencies and consisted of 42 white families and 45 black families. To acquire the necessary information, researchers conducted in home interviews lasting approximately 90 minutes. Questions included things such as “How well do you get along with your mother?”, and “When asked your race or ethnicity, what do you say?” The adoptees were also required to complete the Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale and questionnaires about demographics and school, family, and peer relationships. All of the results were coded by researchers who did not conduct any of the interviews. They used statistical tests such as chi-square, t test, and the Partial Order Scalogram Analysis by Coordinates (POSAC) which is used to compare subjects across variables. After analysis, researchers derived 4 adjustment variables out of the results. They included parent child relationships with a rating scale of 1 to 3, self esteem with a rating scale of 1 to 4, perception of parent satisfaction with school performance with a rating scale of 1 to 3, and finally, perceived quality of life compared to peers with a rating scale of 1 to 4. Low ratings on any of these scales were correlated to low levels of adjustment. For the most part none of the findings were indicative of poor adjustment across all of the levels.

I strongly agree with the direction of this article. All of the adoptees were placed with families at young ages which would allow them to grow up in a stable, consistent environment. Factors affecting adjustment can vary due to many circumstances, not just the fact that the skin color of parents may or may not be different from that of the child. One thing of concern to me was that a majority of the adopted children participating in the study were of mixed race. These children often times have identity issues even when living with their birth parents. The race they identify with as well as friends and romantic partners are often chosen based on how the child/adolescent is raised. Finally, the Vroegh herself, acknowledges the possibility of shortcomings due to the high participant drop out rate. If more families had participated in the beginning and actually stuck with the study, perhaps more would have been found in the area of poor adjustment.

Vroegh, Karen S. (1997). Transracial Adoptees: Developmental Status After 17 Years.  American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 67(4), 568-575.  Retrieved from Ebsco Host Database.

Partitioning the Adoption Process to Better Predict Permanency March 9, 2009

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This study focuses on the predicative factors involved in the completion of each stage of the adoption process. The premise behind this focus is that a better understanding of these factors may lead to greater insights for practice and policy (permanency planning) and essentially a more timely and successful adoption.

This study stems from previous research, suggesting that the practice of permanency planning alone doesn’t necessarily reduce the amount of time that children, from the child welfare system, spend in this “in-between” care. The previous study further went on to indicate a number of factors which seemed to influence achieving a timely permanent placement: child characteristics, adoptive family characteristics, biological family characteristics, type of abuse/neglect experienced by child, child’s previous placement history, characteristics of case workers, social services, court systems and community.

In lei of these findings, the current researchers decided to carry out a longitudinal study, over a 5 year period, to look at the factors affecting time of two of the major stages of the adoption process. These two stages are the time from when a child is removed from the home to when the adoption placement is made and from the time of placement to the time the adoption is finalized. The data for this study was obtained from the semiannual Oklahoma AFCARS files (1997-2001) which include all active foster care cases from October, 1996 to September, 2001. Due to significant changes in the Oklahoma adoption system, 2,279 foster care files (from 1997 & 1998) had to be omitted from the analysis, leaving 5,173 individual cases for final analysis. Cox regression analysis was used to test the significance of each predictor (collected from the AFCARS).

Results show that the overall time from removal of home to finalization of adoption shows that time proceeds fairly rapidly for 8-9 months after placement and then slows until reaching finalization, which in some cases takes over two years. After a 3 year period, results showed that 25% of children still hadn’t reached placement (31% of white children more likely to be placed than non-whites and 24% African Americans less likely to be placed than non-African Americans) and 40% of children still hadn’t reached finalization. Other child characteristics that seemed to influence timely processing (stages 1 & 2) was the age of the child at removal (the older the child, the slower the processing) and the type of abuse or neglect the child experienced: relinquishing of parental rights (3x more likely to achieve timely placement) and physical/sexual abuse or parental alcohol abuse (decrease likelihood of timely placement/finalization). The last predictor to show a significant effect on stage 1 of the adoption process was the number of previous placements the child has had in foster care (the greater the # of foster care placements makes the child < half as likely to have a timely adoption placement).

Overall I think this study was quite interesting and did well to look at a number of different predictors. I also like the fact that, unlike the previous research that they sited, they looked at specific stages of the adoption process itself for each of the predictors. This gives a slightly clearer picture of how/if each factor has a significant affect on each stage. The problem with this study is that because of the data they had available to them, they were only able to look at two stages of the process, when there are still many others to take into account. Further studies in this field could work to take a more in depth look at the other stages of the adoption process enable to better predict permanency.

Billings, Peggy; McDonald, Tom; Moore, Terry; & Press, Alan. (May-Jun 2007). Partitioning the Adoption Process to Better Predict Permanency. Child Welfare Journal. 86 (3), 5-32

Social development from infancy to adolescence: Longitudinal and concurrent factors in an adoption sample March 9, 2009

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In this longitudinal study, internationally adopted children were observed from infancy to adolescence to examine their social development. Over the years various theories have developed in regards to the influence of early and concurrent experiences on the child’s social development. Researchers have argued that early experiences are most crucial influence on the social development of a child, while others believe that concurrent experiences are just as important. This study examined the role of infant attachment, maternal sensitive responsiveness, and child temperament on the social development of adopted children. Different measures, including observations and questionnaires, were used at different times of measurement (infancy, middle childhood, adolescence) through different sources of information as well. The study allowed examination of individual child characteristics and parenting style across time, regardless of genetic similarities.

160 internationally adopted children were followed, in which the families were randomly selected through adoption organizations and children adopted from various countries, but all children were adopted before the age of 6 months. The families were visited at home at various times during the child’s infancy through toddlerhood, and when children reached the age of 7 they were visited at home again to observe mother-child interactions, interview the mother, and to administer questionnaires. The results showed that social development in adolescence is a product of past experiences, and concurrent circumstances as well as child characteristics.

The results of this study were very interesting to me. The study examined the different views on importance of early and concurrent experiences, but results showed that both examined separately were not significant to the social development. The attachment levels and maternal sensitive responsiveness were related to the social development at age 14 but the association was not strong enough. However, the child temperament showed strong association with social development, as well as direct and indirect influences of early & concurrent experiences.

I think this study expressed the importance of early and concurrent experiences in social development, through observations of temperament and attachments at early stage. It also showed that genetic similarities are less important in social development of adopted children. There are a few limitations, like how most of the children were evaluated as securely attached. Also, I think there are just too many factors to consider when it comes to social development, so it is very hard to generalize these results found in the study. I’m sure there are other aspects that influence social development in adopted children, and if they are examined as well for the next study I think we will have a stronger conclusion.

Jaffari-Bimmel, N., Juffer, F., Ijzendoorn, M.H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M.J., & Mooijaart, A. (2006). Social development from infancy to adolescence: Longitudinal and concurrent factors in an adoption sample. Developmental Psychology, 42 (6), 1143-1153.

Young Adult International Adoptees’ Search for Birth Parents March 9, 2009

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This study was conducted to examine the factors involved inn searching for an adoptee’s birth parents. The participants were all international adoptees in the Netherlands. It was a longitudinal study, collecting information in 1986, 1990, and again at the turn of the century. At each one of these times, the adoptees—once children, then adolescents, then young adults—answered questionnaires involving their experiences with adoption. Questions were also asked regarding the adoptee’s intent to search for his or her birth parents. Specifically, these questions involved problem behavior, psychiatric disorders, adoption dynamics, early adversity/background, characteristics of the adoptive family, family similarity, search interest, aschool functioning, educational and professional level, and family status as a young adult.

Each participant was labeled as a member of one of four groups—uninterested nonsearchers, interested nonsearchers, searchers, and reunited searchers. The study showed that the mean age of reunited searchers was significantly higher than uninterested nonsearchers. Sex was another significant factor. A similar proportion of men and women were interested in searching, but women had a much greater interest in learning of their biological origins. Also, adoptees that were older at placement were more interested in searching during adolescence, and had more behavioral problems. It was assumed that the people with the lowest amount of problems were least interested in searching. Those who were happy with their adoptive lives did not have the desire to search. Searchers who did not get along with their adoptive parents were more likely to search. The search was a result of their problems, not vice versa.

This study was very well put together. With an abundance of statistical data, a lot of information can be pulled from this case. The researchers did a fantastic job comparing their findings to those of past studies. Often times, it seemed difficult to interpret their findings because there was so much number-based information. The four groupings that were named by the researchers could have been renamed. I became confused seeing the word “searchers” so often. I didn’t know if it meant adoptees in general who have searched for their birth parents, or if it meant the members of the “searchers” subgroup. I had a tough time figuring out why they distinguished the adoptees by home county. I wish that was better clarified. They did a good job suggesting future studies. For instance, they spoke of how it would be interesting to examine whether, from childhood on, adoptees who are eventually reunited have coping strategies that are distinct from those of searchers and nonsearchers.

Tieman, W., van der Ende, J., Verhulst, F. (2008) Young adult international adoptees’ search for birth parents. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(5), 678-687.

Culture, ethnicity, and children’s facial expressions March 9, 2009

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This study is an extension to a previous study about infant’s facial expressions. Over the years researchers have argued that there are certain innate facial expressions across all human beings, regardless of ethnic differences. Recent studies, however, have found that ethnic differences, as well as cultural environment, do influence differences in emotions. The purpose of this study was to examine those differences in facial expressions between various groups of infants. 4 groups of 3-year old girls were examined: Chinese children adopted into European American families, non-adopted Mainland Chinese children, non-adopted Chinese American children, and non-adopted European American children. This way they were able to study children of the same ethnic background developing in different cultural environments, and also children of different ethnic backgrounds developing in the same cultural environment.

The children were tested within 2 weeks of their 3^rd birthday. All children were shown slide shows of emotionally evocative stimuli. Some slides were pleasant, others were negative. The administrator also asked a series of 4 questions following each slide to encourage children to interpret the emotion on the slide. They found that European American girls smiled more than Mainland Chinese and Chinese American girls. They also scored higher on overall expressivity. Adopted Chinese girls produced more disgust-related expressions than Mainland Chinese girls. The results suggest that culture and family environment influences facial expressivity, creating differences among children of the same ethnicity.

This study was interesting because they were able to compare children of same ethnic background developing in different cultural environment, and vice versa. The difference in the expressiveness was interesting and proved that different cultural environment makes a difference. However I think there are several limitations to this study, the most important one being the difference in parenting styles between different cultures. Although the article did mention the awareness of these differences, I think it is too hard to generalize children coming from different social context. There are many factors that can influence the expressivity in any child, including parenting styles, siblings, and family expressions. Children can also interpret the slides differently depending on their cultural environment, thus affecting the accuracy of the scoring.

Another limitation is the fact that only females were examined in this study. A study of boys may produce different results, so this study cannot generalize a result across the ethnicity. The sample sizes were small too, with each group consisting 45 children. However, despite the limitations I think this study did a fine job conveying the influence of cultural environment on infant facial expressions. Although there are many studies regarding facial expressions, it is rare to see articles about the difference in facial expressions between adopted and non-adopted children so that was very interesting to see.

Camras, L.A., Bakeman, R., Chen, Y., Norris, K., & Cain, T.R. (2006). Culture, ethnicity, and children’s facial expressions: A study of European American, mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and adopted Chinese girls. Emotions, 6(1), 103-114.

Behavioral and Emotional Problems Among Italian International Adoptees and Non-Adopted Children: Father’s and Mother’s Reports March 9, 2009

Posted by mporciel in : Research Review , add a comment

In this study, Rosnati, Montirosso, and Barni examined the psychosocial adjustment of Italian school-aged children, both internationally adopted and non-adopted. They did so by mailing Child Behavior Checklists to both biological parents and adoptive parents, and then comparing and analyzing them. The first goal was to compare the behavioral problems of adopted versus non-adopted children. Secondly, they wished to examine parental agreement regarding the behaviors of the children. Thirdly, the researchers evaluated the percentage of children for whom the parents agreed were in a “clinical” or “non-clinical” range. Being in a clinical range meant that the child had nearly severe behavioral and emotional problems.

According to the parents’ responses, adopted children scored higher than non-adopted children in the aspects of attention problems, aggressive behavior, externalizing, and total problems. Although the effect sizes were small, adoptees as a group were more problematic than were non-adopted children. In both types of families, mothers rated attention problems, aggressive behavior, and total problems higher than fathers, most likely due to differences in expectations and child interaction. The difference between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings was confirmed by fair agreement found in both types of parents. When rated by just one parent, the percentages of children in clinical ranges were higher than when both parents’ responses were analyzed. This shows that the multi-informant approach proved to be meaningful, as there were differences between maternal and paternal ratings.

This study was conducted in response to a previous study carried out by Juffer and van IJzendoorn, which had compared similar issues in several European countries. It was smart for Rosnati, Montirosso, and Barni to conduct this study in a nation that has not been examined yet. However, it is stated that the sample was composed of Italian adoptive and biological couples living in several areas of northern Italy. Therefore, it may not be appropriate to make assumptions for the whole country. Perhaps the title should have made notice to northern Italian international adoptees. This study only compared biological children to internationally adopted children. It may have been a smart idea to include domestically-adopted children in the study as well.

There were some other implications in this study. For instance, while aiming to find differences in behavior between the two types of children, the researchers only gathered responses from the parents. Gathering a third party perspective, such as that of a teacher or a family friend, may have been helpful in gathering more information. The fact that the questionnaire was mailed also raises some problems. Although there were two questionnaires mailed to each household, one of each parent, it is not possible to rule out the possibility of each parent discussing the study as they partook. It also would have been nice to see an example of the questionnaire in the appendix.  Overall, it was a very interesting research study with strong statistical findings.

Rosnati, R., Montirosso, R., Barni, D. (2008)  Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian international adoptees and non-adopted children: Father’s and mother’s reports. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(4), 541-549.

International Adoption and Mental Health March 9, 2009

Posted by rcline in : Research Review , add a comment

Frank C. Verhulst discusses the Sophia Longitudinal Adoption Study, which studied the behavioral development of 3, 519 internationally adopted children in the Netherlands. Verhulst wanted to know if there was a difference in adopted children versus nonadopted children in their behaviors. The adopted children were assessed three different times. During ages 10-15, the child behavior checklist was used. During ages 13-18 the child behavior checklist and the youth-self-repot were used. During ages 24-30, the young adult behavior checklist, young adult self-report, and the composite international diagnostic interview were used. During the first assessment it was discovered that the majority of adopted children did not show a drastic increase of behavioral problems opposed to nonadopted children. In the second assessment, it was found that adopted children had more behavioral problems and parent related problems then nonadopted children. In the third assessment, it was discovered that male adoptees were 3.76 times more likely to have a mood disorder than nonadopted males. It was also found that adoptees whose adopted parents had high socioeconomic status had more problems then those from a low socioeconomic background. This was the opposite finding for nonadopted individuals. This study also found that the later the age the child is placed, the more at risk the child is for having clinical issues. The researchers believe that this is because of the child’s past experiences before joining their new adopted family. It was also found that adopted children who had previously been abused or neglected had lower morning cortisol levels then adopted children who have not experienced these hardships. The children who had been extremely neglected had a flattened diurnal cortisol pattern. The study also founded that adopted adults had a harder time committing themselves to a relationship.

 

I believe that this article was interesting because everyone wants to know what the behavioral outcomes are of children who have been adopted. A strength of this article was being a longitudinal study because it allowed the to see the changes and differences that occurred in the adopted children versus nonadopted children. Another strength was that a large sample was assessed, which helped to make the study more credible. One weakness of the study was that the child might have a biological trait, such as anxiety or depression, that may have been apart of them before they were adopted and continued throughout their life. I really enjoyed this article and thought it was important to read, especially if you are going into social work working with children and adoption.

Verhulst, F. (2008). International adoption and mental health: Long-term behavioral outcome. Culture and conflict in child and adolescent mental health (pp. 83-105).

Gay and Lesbian Parents in the World of Adoption March 9, 2009

Posted by rcline in : Research Review, Uncategorized , add a comment

Sandra Silverman discusses the many issues and problems that gay and lesbian couples face during the process of adoption. Silverman uses two stories as evidence of a gay and lesbian couple, to look further into the issues that homosexuals face when trying to adopt. One concern she discusses is that these couples worry and argue about who is going to be the dominant parent and take on the ‘mother’ role or ‘father’ role. For women, being a mother proves to be high on the social stature and high in the child’s eyes, so it is important to them to take on that position. The mother may also wish to be the primary caretaker of the child even though she shares equal responsibility with her partner. These parents also may worry that their child may suffer from not having a parent of the opposite sex. Silverman also discusses discrimination from agencies and countries, such as China, who refuse to adopt to gay and lesbian couples. Many laws for international and domestic adoption make it extremely difficult for gay couples to adopt a child. Couples may also feel guilty that they have adopted a child that could have been adopted by a heterosexual couple. These feelings can deeply impact both the partner and the child.

I believe that Silverman justified the issues that she wrote about of gay and lesbian couples who face hardship before, during, and after the adoption process by telling the two stories of the couples. This helps make the issue more real for the reader by giving personal stories. She could have just been stating random facts without any personal story as a backup. Her reasons as to why gay and lesbian couples have a difficult time adopting could have been more plausible if wrote about prior research. Many of the issues she presented seemed like her own ideas rather then research based facts. Since there were only two stories, rather then a sample of people, there is no way that one can believe that all or the majority of gay and lesbian parents believe this way. The chapter also may have been slightly biased because Silverman is a lesbian mother who had previously adopted children. She may have put some of her own thoughts and opinions while writing this piece.

Silverman, S. (2006). Gay and lesbian parents in the world of adoption. Understanding adoption: Clinical work with adults, children, and parents (pp. 61-76)

 

Risk and Protective Factors Contributing to the Longitudinal Psychosocial Well-Being of Adopted Foster Children March 9, 2009

Posted by jking in : Research Review , add a comment

This study focuses on pre-adoptive risk factors and how they affect a child initially and longitudinally. The risk factors are as follows; if the child is a victim of maltreatment, prenatal substance abuse, or issues in placement background. Placement background refers to if the child went through multiple transitions from home to home and also the age at which the child was adopted. Past research shows that children who are exposed to drugs, such as nicotine, have lower birth weights and are commonly diagnosed with ADHD. Abused or neglected children suffer from PTSD, relationship issues, depression, and many other negative attributes. Children who are adopted at older ages or have shifted from multiple homes have been associated with high levels of aggression, learning disabilities, and poor family functioning. The study follows adopted children who have been exposed to one of these risk factors or a combination. They are measured at three different ages; 2, 4, and 8. Questionnaires from 293 adoptive families were filled out and used to measure the emotional and behavioral health of the adopted children. The risk factor that has the most effect on the child initially is neglect. In children of older ages, the effects of neglect were not as detrimental as sexual abuse and the movement of the child to multiple homes. The study shows that exposure to drugs or nicotine was not associated with behavioral problems. Lastly, a lack of parent readiness was attributed with negative developmental issues seen in the adopted child.

Cassandra Simmel’s study succeeds in providing research in a newly developing field. The study is able to show the effects of pre-adoptive risks both initially and longitudinally. The study is well organized and structured. The past research that is given, allows the reader to gain a broad sense of the detrimental outcomes of pre-adoptive risks. However, the use of questionnaires can bring up many issues regarding the results and measurements calculated from the study. The participants are not able to clarify or ask questions on sections of the questionnaire that are confusing to them. Moreover, questionnaires can be designed to receive a certain answer by the order of the questions given or by specific wording. Also, the information given on a child’s history regarding maltreatment or sexual abuse can be made on assumptions that may not be true. There was no proof of abuse given by a secondary source to confirm that the maltreatment was present. The study would have been strengthened with more evidence of the child’s history. Lastly, Simmel acknowledges that the study may have been biased because it was heavily in search of the negative outcomes of pre-adoptive risks. The study did not look for positive outcomes. Therefore, parents who experience positive relationships with their children may have not felt inclined to participate.

Simmel, C. (2007, December). Risk and protective factors contributing to the longitudinal psychosocial well-being of adopted foster children. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15(4), 237-249. Retrieved March 9, 2009, doi:10.1177/10634266070150040501

Adoption in Korea: Current status and future prospects March 9, 2009

Posted by jking in : Research Review , add a comment

During the 1950’s, Korea became a major source for international adoptions. The country was amidst war and economic crisis. The main reason for international adoptions was to give permanent homes to Korean War orphans and children who were abandoned out of destitution. In the past 50 years, Korea has changed on multiple spectrums. The economy has improved and birth rates have dropped. With all of these changes, Korea’s policies and views towards adoption has changed. In modern times, adoption is used as an extension of child welfare. The first law passed regarding child adoption was the Korean Family Law in 1958. This put a focus on adoption being in the best interest of the adoptive family. This belief comes from the teachings of Confucianism. In Confucianism, the family is more important than the individual. Moreover, Confucianism puts an emphasis on blood relatedness and the continuing of the family line. These beliefs have created a stigma in regards to domestic adoption. Revisions of adoptive laws in modern times, has shown a change from the best interest of family to the best interest of the child. Children are now placed into adoption to avoid child abuse and neglect. For the future, to improve adoption, Korea must improve their foster care system, provide more research and data on domestic and international adoptions, and completely move to a system where the focus is on the child and not the family.

In general, Bong Joo Lee does a sufficient job examining the history and changes in adoptive policies and beliefs in Korea. The research is placed in a well organized structure so the reader can see the changes and development in Korea in regards to adoption. At some points, there are large gaps in time where Korean policies stay the same and then change radically. It would be helpful if there was more background information given to support these changes. Specifically, there is a focus placed in the beginning of adoption in Korea in the late 1950’s and the current policies that are used today. There is less information regarding what happened in between this time. Throughout the paper, there is a lacking adoption data. The research presented would be strengthened by the addition of empirical data. Lee mentions that this is a main problem in Korea and that there needs to be a movement for more statistical research surrounding Korean domestic and international adoptions. Lee does well stating what can be done for the future of adoption. The arguments stated for more connection between the foster care systems and adoptive services and the broadening of polices involving children with special need are strong and well supported. Lastly, the conclusion stands out as it emphasizes and restates the main argument of the author that there needs to be a complete change for Korean adoptions to focus on the child and not the family.

Lee, B. (2007, January). Adoption in Korea: Current status and future prospects. International Journal of Social Welfare, 16(1), 75-83. Retrieved March 9, 2009, doi:10.1111/j.1468-2397.2006.00421.x

Adoption, attachment, and relationship concerns: A study of adult adoptees March 9, 2009

Posted by kcostell in : Research Review , add a comment

This study was done in order to examine how adult attachment and security differs among adoptees and non-adoptees and how attachment predicts relationship outcomes.  The researchers predicted that “adults who were adopted as infants would report more insecurity than those who grew up with both biological parents…also…expected higher insecurity among those perceiving more negative childhood relationships with parents (biological or adoptive) and, in the case of adoptees, less satisfying reunions with birth mothers” (Feeny, Passmore, & Peterson, 133, 2007).  A reason this study was conducted was because some studies have shown that “adoptees are overrepresented in clinical groups (Wierzbicki, 1993), or fare worse than non-adoptees on variables such as self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (e.g., Borders, Penny, & Portnoy 2000; Cubito & Obremski-Brandon, 2000; Tieman, van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2005)” (Feeny, Passmore & Peterson, 2007).  Feeny, Passmore and Peterson (2007) also believed that “there are convincing arguments linking adoption to increased risk of interpersonal problems” (Feeny et. al., 129).

There were two groups of participants in this study.  They were all over the age of 18, had been born in Australia, and had two parents who were either biological or adoptive.  The adopted group was 111 women and 33 men, totaling 144; for the biological group there were 96 women and 35 men, totaling 131. The mean age of the participants at adoption was 5.98 weeks.  The researchers gave a questionnaire to the participants involved.  One questionnaire assessed relationships, which asked questions about attachment styles (fearful, preoccupied, secure, and dismissing).  Another questionnaire assessed the “tendency to be uncomfortable with intimacy and to have difficulty in depending on relationship partners” (Feeny et. al., 134).

Results from this study suggested that “…insecure attachment may be more widespread among adoptees than nonadoptees.  Adoptees scored higher than comparison participants on avoidance and anxiety, which have consistently emerged as the two key dimensions underlying measures of adult attachment (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998)” (Feeny, Passmore, & Peterson, 141, 2007).  They also reported that there was “dissatisfaction with the initial reunion” of adoptees that met their birthmothers. (Feeny et al, 2007)

This article does an excellent job at looking at personal relationships between adoptees and nonadoptees.  However, this is only a sample population and cannot account for everyone’s opinions and feelings.  The data involving birth mothers varies among studies and although the findings were significant, it is always different from scenario to scenario.

Feeny, J., Passmore, N., & Peterson, C. (2007, March).  Adoption, attachment, and relationship concerns: A study of adult adoptees.  Personal Relationships, 14(1), 129-147.

The Effect of Infant Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Facial Features on Adoption Preference March 9, 2009

Posted by kcostell in : Research Review , add a comment

The purpose of the study done by Katherine Waller, Anthony Volk and Vernon Quinsey (2004) was to research how infant facial characteristics affected adoption preferences.  This study was specifically concerned with the facial characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome.  Hildebrandt and Fitzgerald (1979) investigated the reaction of adults after looking at photos of real infants.  They manipulated the features of pictures to show either “average” or “abnormal” faces.  They found that the adults preferred the pictures of the “average” faces.  Another theory guiding the work was that “FAS could be reliably discriminated from people without FAS according to a mathematical formula based on three defining facial characteristics: short palpebral fissures (short eye openings), thin upper lip, and indistinct philtrum”(Astley and Clarren 1996).

The participants in this study were 77, predominately Caucasian and a mixture of undergraduate students and members of the community.  They ranged in parental experience.  The study used pictures of fourteen Caucasian infant faces that were similar in measurements of facial features and a fifteenth picture that depicted an infant with FAS.  Participants were randomly shown the slides of each “normal” face and the “FAS” face.  They were then shown the images separately and were asked three questions:  “If you were going to adopt an infant, how likely is it that you would choose this one?” “How cute/attractive is this infant?” “How healthy does this infant look?”  Participants responded to the questions using a seven-point scale.  The value of 1 represented “very unlikely/attractive/unhealthy” and 7 represented “very likely/attractive/healthy”.  They found that “adoption likelihood was significantly higher for the “normal” infant faces that the “FAS” face”.

The research done by Waller, Volk and Quinsey (2004) shows insight to how people view characteristics of infants, and their general preference to adopt an infant with “normal” features.  One limitation that this study presented was that the race was predominantly Caucasian.  This limits the research because it does not involve any other races.  This data may not have been the same if the participants had different backgrounds.  This is also the same for the SES; many participants had middle-high SES backgrounds and college educations. Strengths that this study presented were the way the researchers tested their hypothesis.  They did so in a way that accurately portrayed images of babies and the participant’s opinions.

Waller, K., Volk, A. & Quinsey, V.  (2004).  The effect of infant fetal alcohol syndrome facial features on adoption preference.  Human Nature, 15(1), 101-117.

Adoption as a Risk Factor for Attempted Suicide During Adolescence March 9, 2009

Posted by sshiever in : Research Review , add a comment

       This article aims to determine if there isa significant relationship between attempted suicide and adolescent adoptees, and whether “family connectedness decreases the risk of suicide attempts regardless of adoptive or biological status” (Goodman, Huang, & Slap, 1).  Data was collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, via a sample of 7th-12th grade students, and was combined with a sampling of in-home interviews. It was shown that attempted suicide was indeed more prevalent among children who live with adoptive parents as opposed to biological, the reasons for such still unknown & unclear.

      This article provides useful insight into the psychological well-being of a large sampling of adopted adolescents. Through using a large sample size (90,118), and varying the techniques in which the children (both adopted, and not) were questioned in regards to attempted suicide, the validity of these results was increased significantly; allowing some generalizations to be made concerning adoption and suicide. While the study revealed that attempted suicide was indeed more common among adopted youths, it also stated briefly that the vast majority of adopted children do NOT in fact attempt suicide; which is a very important result to note.  What this means is that while most adopted children do not attempt suicide, the small number who do, is still significantly larger than that of children who live with their biological parents. Again, for future studies,  it would be interesting to see how these results would compare with a similar study done cross-culturally; as both suicide and adoption have different implications across cultures.

 

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/108/2/e30

Becoming mother and father in late adoption: a case study March 9, 2009

Posted by sshiever in : Research Review , 1 comment so far

            This article deals with adoption in Brazil, and the uncommon practice of late adoption.  Even in the early adoption of newborns, it is custom for adoptive parents to keep their child’s history and biological origin a secret; never disclosing the fact their child was adopted at all.  It is because of this secrecy that late adoption is a rare occurrence in Brazil, as it would inevitably expose the parent(s) as being adoptive, as opposed to biological.  This paper explores a case study in which a couple decided to go against the cultural grain by adoptingtwo sisters ages 4 and 5; and what it meant for them as parents and as a family. It revealed that in order for them to successfully form normal famililial roles and relationships, it was imperative that the parents, children, and extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles,etc) reconstruct their definition of what it means to be family.

    Oftentimes it is difficult to relate to other culture’s views, especially those concerning sensitive subjects such as family. This article does an impeccable job at explaining Brazilian customs regarding family, and the adoption process, and does do in an interesting and intriguing way. The interviews with the family provide an intimate insight to their struggles, and successes in dealing with cultural norms, and in building healthy, affectionate relationships. However, because it is a case study, generalizations about how late adoption affects all Brazilian families who participate in the adoption of older children, unfortunately cannot be made. It would be interesting for future studies to compare the issues, and accomplishments of multiple late-adoptive families in Brazil; as well as to do a cross-cultural study of how these struggles and accomplishments compare to those of late-adoptive families in the U.S.

 

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121624982/HTMLSTART

Adoptees Do Not Lack Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analysis March 8, 2009

Posted by emclough in : Research Review , add a comment

This is a meta-analysis of studies on self-esteem of transracial, international and domestic adoptees, performed by Femmie Juffer and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn. It is hypothesized that adopted children are at risk of low self-esteem. Transracial and international adoptees may experience low self-esteem because they feel less included in their family. According to Juffer and Ijzendoorn, self-esteem is considered to be one of the most important elements of healthy development. The purpose of this study is to find out if “whether the problems of adopted children shown in the physical, cognitive and socioemotional domain can also be found in the domain of self-esteem and whether adoptees show better self-esteem than nonadopted, institutionalized children. A third issue is whether transracial and same-race adoptees differ in self-esteem.” Three search methods were used to begin this study. First, information was collected on empirical studies documenting adoptees self-esteem. Second, the references of these studies were searched for relevant studies and third, experts in the field were asked for relevant studies. The search was not limited to English-language publications, all searches were broad and all age groups (childhood through adulthood) were examined.
A detailed coding system was used to extract data from every study on sample characteristics. These characteristics were: gender, age at adoptive placement, age at assessment, international of domestic adoption, transracial or same-race adoption and pre-adoption adversity. The results of Juffer and Ijzendoorn’s meta-analyses found no-differences in self-esteem, between adoptees and non-adopted children. There was also no difference for international and domestic, transracil and same-race adoptees. The results of this analyses support the idea that adoption if an effective intervention in a children’s lives.
I liked how this study took one characteristic, self-esteem and was able to research it so deeply across so many different areas and levels. I think a strength of this study was that the researchers picked important areas to compare (transracial vs. same-race adoptees and international vs. domestic adoptees). I think these categories helped to ensure this study would have educational results but there wasn’t to many categories to make the study confusing or complicated. The strength of this article was how in depth this analysis went, so it was extremely informative and educational. It will be a great basis for future research. A weakness of this study would be some of the complicated dialogue or explanations, I found myself having to read over things a few time to fully understand. I like reading about studies where there is an actual study performed instead of a meta-analysis. I like reading about results from a study that was just performed and thinking about what different results would be found if a different population was used.

Juffer F, Ijzendoorn M (2007). Adoptees Do Not Lack Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analysis of Studies of Self-Esteem of Transracial, International and Domestic Adoptees. Psychological Bulletin, (133) 1067-1083

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive and Foster Care Placements: Can They Meet the Needs of Waiting Children? March 2, 2009

Posted by emclough in : Research Review , add a comment

The number of potential adoptive parents is decreasing, but the number of children in need of adoptive homes is rising, which has resulted in significant repercussions. To date, there has been no previous research on gay and lesbian adoptive and foster families. There have been numerous studies on the parenting ability of gay men and lesbians that have shown that homosexuality is compatible with effective parenting.
Brooks and Goldberg believe that some of the controversy surrounding placements of gay men and lesbians stem from the homophobia of social work professionals and the general public. A study by Higgins in 1989 found no self-esteem among children of lesbian mothers and those of heterosexual mothers. A 1992 study by Bigner and Jacobsen determined that gay and heterosexual fathers were more similar than different regarding their responsiveness and attitudes toward children. A 1995 study by Tasker and Golombok found that young adults from lesbian family background aren’t any more likely to remember general teasing or bullying by their peers than young adults raised in heterosexual families.
This study by Brooks and Goldberg wants to examine whether there is any basis for assuming that gay men and lesbians are less capable in raising adopted and foster children, than a heterosexual man or woman. Interviews were conducted with10 key staff members from a local social services agency in the state in which the study was conducted. Several of these staff members have worked in social service for 20 or more years. There were 8 women and 2 men. The data in this study did not support the position that adoptive and foster parenting by gay men and lesbians is likely to be harmful to children’s adjustment and well-being. This is also consistent with previous research conducted on biological families, which concluded that children are not affected negatively by their experiences through being raised by gay or lesbian parents

I enjoyed this article since it was the first study of its kind to be performed to date. I thought the strengths of the article was the previous research of various kinds that the authors listed and explained to support their study. I think another strength would be that this article wasn’t written in a complicated or confusing manner, so it was easy for anyone to read and understand. A weakness would be that this isn’t the most up-to-date research done on this topic and numerous studies mentioned in this piece were done over a decade ago. I think that the researchers could have increased the number of males in the staff participants to be more equal to the female staff (eight women to two men). Also, the different couples used in the focus groups could have been more equal (four female couples, one male couple, one unmarried couple).

Brooks D, Goldberg S (1999). Gay and Lesbian Adoptive and Foster Care Placements: Can They Meet the Needs of Waiting Children? Social Work, (46) 147-157

A New Blog Highlighting Adoption Research December 12, 2008

Posted by Hal Grotevant in : About This Site , add a comment

Starting in February 2009, this blog will include summaries and critiques of current adoption research articles. Initial participants are students in Psy 391AD, The Psychology of Adoption, at UMass Amherst, taught by Dr. Harold Grotevant, Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology. We hope this will be a useful resource for those seeking research-based information about adoption. Visitors to the site are welcome to comment on the postings.

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