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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.

Objective: The study addressed whether specific linguistic variables used by adoptive parents were associated with ratings of the adoptee's relationship with their birth mothers. Background: Parents transmit their beliefs and values to children through verbal and nonverbal communication. The ways in which adoptive parents discuss their child's adoption and birth family can influence the child's adoptive identity development and satisfaction with their adoption arrangements. Method: Participants included mothers, fathers, and adolescents (M age = 15.7 years) in 177 adoptive families of children who were adopted domestically as infants by same‐race parents. The Linguistic Analysis and Word Count 2015 (LIWC2015) program was used to code adoptive parents' interviews regarding their thoughts and feelings about adoption and their child's birth family. Adolescents' views of birth mothers were coded from their interviews. Results: There were significant differences in linguistic patterns when adoptive parents discussed adoption generally compared to when they discussed their child's birth family. Specific linguistic variables used by adoptive mothers and fathers were significantly associated with adopted adolescents' perceptions and feelings towards their birth mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopted adolescents create identity narratives conceptualizing their connections to their families of adoption and birth. Previous work with a sample of adoptive adolescents identified a sub‐group who reported negative experiences regarding adoption as part of their navigating of adoptive identity processes (the "Unsettled" group). The current study examined interviews with adolescents in the "Unsettled" group to elucidate these negative experiences, specifically through identifying the relationship challenges linked to adoption. Participants included 30 adopted adolescents (18 females, 12 males) from a longitudinal study of adoptive families. All the adolescents (M age = 15.2 years) were domestically adopted in infancy by heterosexual couples who were the same race as the adolescents (29 White, 1 Mexican American). Thematic analysis revealed six themes reflecting adolescents' relationship challenges as related to adoption, both in terms of interpersonal interactions and how relational experiences influenced adolescents' thoughts and feelings of past, present, and future selves: (a) Negative experiences in relationships with adoptive family members, (b) Negative experiences in relationships with birth family members, (c) Difficulties in the adoptive kinship network, (d) Negative thoughts and feelings toward the self as an adopted person, (e) Negative views toward adoption as a form of building a family, and (f) Negative connections between adoption and future relationships. Multiple subthemes were also identified that built upon topics within the adoption and family systems literature, such as communication among family members, navigation of birth family contact, and adopted adolescents' perceptions of loss. Also identified were four profiles across themes. Implications for mental health providers and adoption professionals are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares a sample of 223 adopted adolescents with a nonadopted reference group representative of the Spanish adolescent population from the "Spanish Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study." Variables related to the family context, peers, school context, and emotional well-being are compared. Adoptees are not only analyzed as a group, but also according to the type of adoption (domestic or intercountry) and the birth area of origin (Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe). The results showed more similarities than differences between the whole group of adoptees and the reference group, as well as heterogeneity within the adoptees depending on their origin.

Adopted persons face special challenges in the development of identity, as aspects of their histories may be unknown, making it difficult to construct a coherent narrative linking past, present, and future. Extensive literature on adjustment outcomes for adopted persons indicates an elevated risk for adjustment problems. In this study, a low-risk sample of adopted youth is involved to examine, longitudinally, connections between adoptive identity and adjustment. Participants included 145 adopted youth who participated in Waves 2 (W2: adolescence: mean age = 15.7) and 3 (W3: emerging adulthood: mean age = 25.0) of a longitudinal study with a nationwide sample. Children were placed with same-race adoptive families (over 95% White) as infants through domestic private adoption agencies in the U.S. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors were assessed by the Youth Self Report (W2) and the Adult Self Report (W3). Adoptive identity was assessed by ratings of 6 dimensions coded from interviews which, using cluster analysis, revealed 4 adoptive identity subgroups: unexamined, limited, unsettled, and integrated. Factorial ANCOVA examined mean differences in W3 internalizing problems across identity clusters while controlling for W2 internalizing. The main effect for adoptive identity cluster was significant: F(3, 840.72) = 3.724, p = 0.011. Adopted adolescents in the unsettled group had significantly higher levels of internalizing problems in emerging adulthood than persons in the unexamined and limited categories. A similar ANCOVA for W3 externalizing behavior was not significant. Identity profiles high in negative affect may be at particular risk of increased levels of internalizing problems.

The Adoption Mentoring Partnership (AMP) matches preadolescent adoptees with adopted college students, prioritizing matches of the same ethnic background. As part of AMP, participants actively discuss issues of ethnicity and adoption with a cohort of mentors over a period of 1 to 3 years in mentor group meetings (MGMs). This study focuses on mentors' perceptions of ethnic identity processes within the context of adoption during their participation in AMP. Thematic analysis is used to analyze two interviews from each of 12 internationally and transracially adopted mentors (8 females, 4 males; average age = 20.4 years; birth countries from Asia or Latin America). Four overarching domains emerged: personal ethnic identity exploration, communication with family members about adoption/ethnicity, social exchanges outside the family, and mentors' perceived personal meanings of ethnicity while participating in AMP. All mentors acknowledged degrees of ambivalence around ethnic identity, yet reported overwhelmingly positive feelings about participating in AMP.

The Adoption Curiosity Pathway (ACP) model was used to test the potential mediating effect of curiosity on adoption information-seeking in a sample of 143 emerging adult adoptees (mean age = 25.0 years) who were adopted as infants within the United States by parents of the same race. Adoptees were interviewed about their intentions and actions taken to gather new information about their birth mothers and fathers. As expected, level of curiosity was positively associated with information-seeking behavior. Moreover, level of curiosity was influenced by adoptees' perceptions of barriers and facilitators toward information-seeking. In fact, curiosity partially mediated the impact of internal and external barriers on information-seeking about birth mothers. Curiosity fully mediated the impact of external barriers and partially mediated external facilitators on birth father information-seeking. This study provides important support for the ACP, which describes context, motivation, and behavior relating to seeking new adoption-related information.

Background: This study examined the relation between three variables related to adoptive family relationships (post-adoption contact between adoptive and birth family members, adoption communicative openness, and satisfaction with contact) and adoptee externalizing behavior in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Method: The study included 190 families of infant-placed, domestic adoptees during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze predictors of externalizing behavior from contact (adoptive parents and adolescent reports), adoption communicative openness (adoptive mothers), and satisfaction with contact (adoptive parents and adolescent). Results: Externalizing behavior showed moderate stability across childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Contact and adoption communicative openness were related to each other, but not to externalizing behaviors in adolescence or emerging adulthood. Controlling for the effect of Childhood Externalizing, adoptive families most satisfied with contact reported relative declines in adoptee externalizing behavior during adolescence compared to those in less satisfied families. Satisfaction was also indirectly associated with Emerging Adult Externalizing, through its effect on Adolescent Externalizing. Conclusions: Although contact and adoption communicative openness were highly correlated with each other, neither was related to adoptees' externalizing behavior in adolescence or emerging adulthood. Family-level satisfaction with contact was more predictive of externalizing outcomes.

This study examined the contribution of demographic characteristics, early maltreatment, and peer and family relationships during adolescence to the prediction of aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial behavior (AASB and NAASB, respectively) during young adulthood; and determined whether adoption status has additional ability to predict ASB, once background, early experience, peer, and family variables were controlled. Data from adolescent and parent interviews were used from Waves 1 (predictors) and 3 (outcomes) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The sample included 337 adopted and 10,339 nonadopted adolescents whose mean ages were 15.8 at W1 and 21.7 at W3. Although AASB and NAASB were predicted by background characteristics, early maltreatment, peer relations, and family relationships, adoption status had little to no additional predictive power once the other variables were controlled.

The decision to search for birthparents is one that all adopted persons consider. The focus of this study is to describe, for a group of adopted adolescents, who chooses to search and who does not and to explore how search behavior is related to the functioning of the adolescents' adoptive families and adolescents' psychological adjustment. Participants in the study included 93 adolescents whose contact with birthparents ranged from no contact or information about birthparents to those who had some information but no direct contact with birthparents. Adolescents who indicated no desire to search for their birthparents and those who indicated a desire to search or had searched were included in the study. Older adolescents who experienced some openness in their adoption, were the least satisfied with that adoptive openness, and were preoccupied with their adoptive status were most likely to search. Search behavior was not related to family functioning or adolescent problem behavior.

Analyzed data from two data sets in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Wave I to identify discrepancies between in-school questionnaire and in-home interview results. Identified a group of "jokester" adolescents likely to have identified themselves as adoptees, when they were not. Found evidence suggesting that this group provided extreme responses to questions about delinquency. Concluded that previously reported differences between adopted and non-adopted adolescents were overstated. (Author/KB)

Examined psychosocial engagement of adopted adolescents as a function of longitudinal patterns of stability and change in parents' perceptions of the child's compatibility within the family. Identified five patterns of stability and change in compatibility. Found that a sense of compatibility within the family is related to the emergence of psychosocial engagement. (Author/SD)

Summarizes current research on the outcomes of open adoption. Discusses issues involved in conducting research on openness and offers methodological recommendations. Provides examples from one research program with adoptive kinship networks. Concludes that psychological outcomes were less related to the level of openness than to the dynamics of the adoptive kinship network. (Author/KB)

Examined links between early risk and problematic developmental outcomes in adopted children during middle childhood. Found no direct relation between prenatal, perinatal, or preplacement risk factors and problematic socioemotional adjustment. With 12 high-risk children, proactive cooperation among the child's adoptive and birth family members on behalf of the child's best interests accounted for variations in socioemotional outcomes. (Author/KB)

Interviewed private adoption agency staff in 1987-89 and 1993 to examine the impact of open adoption on practices and services. Found that over time, agencies offered a greater range of openness options. Client demand, changes in agency philosophy, and competition from independent or private adoptions were among the most salient reasons for change. (Author)

Examined grief resolution issues for birthmothers who placed infants for adoption. Found that birthmothers in fully disclosed adoptions had better resolution than with confidential and time-limited mediated adoptions, and those in ongoing mediated had better resolution than with time-limited mediated adoptions. Findings pose implications for preplacement planning and pre- and post-adoption services. (Author)