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Contact in adoption and adoptive identity formation: The mediating role of family conversation.

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: The present study examined adoption-related family conversation as a mediator of the association between adoptive parents' facilitation of contact with birth relatives and adolescent adoptive identity formation. The sample consisted of 184 adoptive families. Data were collected in two waves from adoptive mothers and fathers, and adoptees (M = 15.68 years at adolescence; M = 24.95 years at emerging adulthood) using semistructured interviews and questionnaires. Structural equation models showed a good fit to sample data, and analyses supported the hypothesized mediation model. Contact with birth relatives is associated with more frequent adoption-related family conversation, which in turn is associated with the development of adoptive identity. These results highlight the importance of supporting activities such as contact that lead to adoption-related family conversation.

Source: Journal of Family Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/a0023388

Authors: Lynn Von Korff, Harold D. Grotevant

Institutions: University of Minnesota, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Language: English

Topic: Child Welfare and Adoption

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: William T. Grant Foundation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Award: Adoptive Families: Outcomes for Young Adults