My last blog shared, and sometimes critiqued, some negative psychological research on adoptees. This blog will focus on research showing positive outcomes for adoptees. As I said in my last blog, this is not a comprehensive expert research review—just a parent sharing some things to mull over.
A 1964 study performed developmental appraisals on fifty adopted children between ages three and seven. All of the children had learned about their adoption before the researchers met them, and none of the children were being seen in counseling or reported to have problems. Their I.Q.s were higher than expected. There was no difference between them and non-adopted children of similar backgrounds in psychological test results or in observed play. The interviewer noted that all but a few of the adopted children seemed to have parental images strongly centered on the adoptive mother and father.
A 1970 study compared adopted and non-adopted boys. They found no evidence that the adopted boys had problems with identity, ideals, impulse control, or acceptance of the values and rules of their parents.
A 1976 Danish study of over 200 adopted adults led to similar findings.
A 1985 study of 50 adopted adolescents found that 92 percent of them had been told of their adoption by age six, most of them between the ages of three and five, and that almost all of them believed that was the right time for them to have been told. They gave realistic reasons their birthparents might have had for relinquishment. Only four of the 50 indicated that they thought they might have been given up because of some inferiority of their own.
Another 1985 study found that the adoptees interviewed showed no differences from their peers in self-esteem or sociability.
My previous blog mentioned a study in which problems adoptees experienced in early puberty were largely resolved by age 15, leaving the adoptees with no significant differences compared to their peers.
In fact, a 1985 study found adopted youth between ages 13 and 21 to have positive differences from their peers. They demonstrated more confidence in their own judgment and more perception of themselves as being more in control of their lives and inner-directed than the nonadopted group.
Adoptive subjects also rated their parenting as more nurturing, helpful and protective concerned.
Please see these related blogs:
What Really Happens When Adopted Kids Grow Up
Does Research Validate Our Fears?
Book Review: William Is My Brother