Birth Family Contact from Childhood to Adulthood: Adjustment and Adoption Outcomes in Adopted Young Adults

Autor/inn/en	Lo, Albert Y. H.; Grotevant, Harold D.; Wrobel, Gretchen M.
Titel	Birth Family Contact from Childhood to Adulthood: Adjustment and Adoption Outcomes in Adopted Young Adults
Quelle	In: International Journal of Behavioral Development, 47 (2023) 4, S.283-293 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Lo, Albert Y. H.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0165-0254
DOI	10.1177/01650254231165839
Schlagwörter	Adoption; Young Adults; Adjustment (to Environment); Mental Health; Well Being; Parent Child Relationship; Parents; Mothers; Incidence; Individual Characteristics; Experience; Brief Symptom Inventory + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Young adult; Junger Erwachsener; Psychohygiene; Well-being; Wellness; Wohlbefinden; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Eltern; Mother; Mutter; Vorkommen; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Erfahrung
Abstract	Experiences of contact between adopted persons and birth family members have implications for psychological adjustment of adopted persons. The current study utilizes four contact trajectory groups, spanning from middle childhood to young adulthood and encompassing three aspects of birth family contact in predicting psychological adjustment and adoption-related outcomes in adopted young adults. Data come from a longitudinal study of adoptive families in which adopted persons were domestically adopted in infancy by same-race parents in the United States. Adopted young adults in the group characterized by sustained high levels of contact and satisfaction with contact over time ("Extended Contact") displayed lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of psychological well-being than adopted persons in the group characterized by contact that increased over time but remained limited ("Limited Contact"). Generally, adopted persons within the group characterized by consistent lack of contact ("No Contact") and the group characterized by contact that was initially present but ended ("Stopped Contact") did not differ in distress and well-being from those in the "Extended Contact" group. No group differences were found on adoption dynamics and identity; however, young adults in the "Extended Contact" group generally reported more positive relationships with their birth mothers than those in the other groups. Findings are discussed in the context of heterogeneity in contact experiences and implications for policy and practice. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01