The Transracial Adoption Paradox: History, Research, and Counseling Implications of Cultural Socialization

Post-adoption experiences of discrimination moderated by sleep quality are associated with depressive symptoms in previously institutionalized youth over and above deprivation-induced depression risk

The association of post-adoption experiences of discrimination with depressive symptoms was examined in 93 previously institutionalized (PI) youth (84% transracially adopted). Additionally, we explored whether sleep quality statistically moderated this association. Notably, we examined these associations after covarying a measure of autonomic balance (high/low frequency ratio in heart rate variability) affected by early institutional deprivation and a known risk factor for depression. PI youth exhibited more depressive symptoms and experiences of discrimination than 95 comparison youth (non-adopted, NA) raised in their biological families in the United States. In the final regression model, there was a significant interaction between sleep quality and discrimination, such that at higher levels of sleep quality, the association between discrimination and depression symptoms was non-significant. Despite being cross-sectional, the results suggest that the risk of depression in PI youth involves post-adoption experiences that appear unrelated to the impacts of early deprivation on neurobiological processes associated with depression risk. It may be crucial to examine methods of improving sleep quality and socializing PI youth to cope with discrimination as protection against discrimination and microaggressions.

Navigating puberty, identity, and race among transnationally, transracially adopted Korean American adolescents

This exploratory study examined the relation between pubertal timing and dimensions of ethnic-racial identity among adopted Korean Americans raised transracially in White families. The study also examined whether internalized racism moderated the association between pubertal timing and ethnic-racial identity. Adopted Korean American adolescents (N = 202; 108 females; ages 13-19 years) completed measures of pubertal development, ethnic-racial identity, and internalized racism in 2007. There was no significant main effect of pubertal timing for either male or female adolescents. Internalized racism moderated the relation between pubertal timing and ethnic-racial identity clarity (B = -.16, p = .015) among male adolescents. Specifically, earlier pubertal timing was significantly associated with lower ethnic-racial identity clarity for male adolescents with higher levels of internalized racism.

Assisted Conception Socialization Self-Efficacy Among Israeli Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Parent Families and its Association with Child Externalizing Problems

This questionnaire-based study compared 36 Israeli lesbian mother families (n = 72 lesbian mothers) formed by donor insemination, 39 Israeli gay father families (n = 78 gay fathers) formed by gestational surrogacy, and 36 Israeli heterosexual parent families (n = 72 heterosexual parents) formed by assisted reproduction (without donated gametes), all with a target child aged 3-10 years. The families were examined for parents' assisted conception socialization self-efficacy, depression, negative and positive affect, life satisfaction, positivity, resilience, social support, and child externalizing problems. Multiple factors associated with child externalizing problems were also examined. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that parents' assisted conception socialization self-efficacy did not differ between family groups; however, lesbian mothers and gay fathers reported fewer child externalizing problems and greater social support, relative to heterosexual parents. Also, lesbian mothers-but not gay fathers-reported lower levels of depression, greater life satisfaction, and more positivity than did heterosexual parents. Finally, irrespective of family type, greater assisted conception socialization self-efficacy was associated with fewer parent-reported child externalizing problems. Findings are interpreted in light of the cultural socialization framework and Israel's familistic and pronatalist environment. Implications for health professionals, educators, and policymakers working with diverse family forms are discussed.

A trauma-informed substance use disorder prevention program for transracially adopted children and adolescents

The prevalence of substance use among transracial and international adoptees is higher than that of non-adopted persons, and yet no specialized treatment modalities exist for this underserved population. Our purpose is to propose a substance use disorder (SUD) prevention program for transracial adoptive families that addresses the specific issues that face this community. There are several pre- and post-adoption factors which position transracial and international adoptees (TRIAs) to be at higher risk to develop SUDs. Some of these factors include adoption identity, trauma, loss, genetics, and racial discrimination. The biopsychosocial (BPS) model (Engel, 1977) is used to conceptualize SUDs in adoptees, and theories that focus on adoption-related development issues such as the Adoptee Stress and Coping Model (Brodzinsky, 1990) are also presented. Our proposed program, Strengthening Transracial Adoptive Families (STAF), utilizes the Guiding Good Choices (GGC) prevention program as its foundation to integrate a culturally responsive adoption-focused curriculum to best serve transracial adoptive families.

Epistemic trauma and transracial adoption: Author(iz)ing folkways of knowledge and healing

BACKGROUND

Despite contested definitions, trauma is often conceptualized as an event that shocks or overloads human systems, shaping memory and meanings as the body and mind attempt to cope and survive. Adoption is often the presumed redress for childhood trauma. Thus, few scholars have examined how, or if, some conditions of adoption or the status itself might involve unique traumas or adversities.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, I argue that the condition of being transracially adopted can represent intersectional minoritized statuses, which in turn activate potentially distinct formations of epistemic trauma- structurally and relationally transmitted harms to a person as a knower and to their capacities for claiming, making sense of, and healing through their lived experiences.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

I draw from my personal and professional standpoints as a black, mixed-race, woman who was transracially adopted from public foster care as an infant, became a child welfare caseworker and later, a child welfare scholar.

METHODS

Using a critical and reflexive autoethnographic method I ask how theories of epistemic injustice might help to highlight conditions tied to the status "transracial adoptee" that distinguish adoption-specific trauma. By reflexively analyzing my experiences in the context of extant theory and research, this paper brings theories of epistemic injustice into conversation with an emic perspective on adoption.

RESULTS

In my experience, "transracial adoptee" and "mixed race" operated as statuses that occasioned epistemic injustices. I propose these conditions can become traumatic when they chronically and structurally disenfranchise claiming and cultivating folkways essential to one's healing and resilience across the life course.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper is a call to invest in advancing epistemologies of adoption and theories of trauma that are anchored within diverse adoption experiences. I also invite future scholarship to explore epistemic injustice in adoption as trauma, and to identify and disrupt the many spaces in which it may be enacted culturally, relationally, familially, and in a society through its laws, policies, practices, and scientific knowledge.

The trauma and healing of consciousness

BACKGROUND

Throughout my graduate coursework, several classes focused on trauma. Considering my experiences, I searched to gain insight into group level trauma adoptees face due to our unique status and common societal factors that influence adoption. Exploring the trauma literature, I found that none of the terms quite represented the complex characteristics of adoption.

OBJECTIVE

Realizing the limitations of current trauma definitions, I sought to name group trauma for adoptees and thereby legitimize and validate my and other adoptees' experiences.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

I am the sole participant. The research was conducted in St. Louis, Missouri.

METHODS

In this autoethnography, I recount academic experiences that have shaped my emerging and interconnected identities as an adoptee and social worker. I analyze the traumatic and empowering impacts of gaining more information about adoption as a politically and economically influenced system.

RESULTS

Examining my intertwined adoption and academic journeys, I propose a trauma and healing of consciousness framework to understand trauma for groups of individuals like adoptees whose trauma is not recognized using historical, collective, or intergenerational models.

CONCLUSIONS

The term trauma of consciousness expands existing theories of trauma while including social groups for whom group trauma was not previously recognized. Understanding the trauma of consciousness is imperative because healing cannot begin until the existence of the trauma is recognized. Further exploration on the trauma of consciousness is needed to recognize its impact and to develop creative interventions that can provide hope and enable people to move forward.

Rediscovering latent trauma: An adopted adult's perspective

Though studies showing a causal relationship between adoption and trauma are scarce, there is enough cross-disciplinary research to suggest such a connection. Likewise, there are many adult adopted persons, like myself, who see their adoption narratives as traumatic in one way or another. Mental health outcomes for adopted people also indicate adoption might be a source of and not just a preventative measure against trauma. In this paper, I utilize an autoethnographic approach to highlight the relationship between infant adoption and what I refer to as "latent traumatic memories." Recounting several major life events that led to traumatic upheavals in my understanding of my own identity as an adopted person, I then relate my story to current research on trauma experienced very early in life and how it is remembered implicitly in the body. My account, I argue, highlights the need to further research adopted people's evolving views about their adoption and how and to what extent certain events in adulthood precipitate the rediscovery of latent trauma.

Racial Family Configurations and Inequalities in Private School Enrollment Among Adopted Children

This study uses data from the American Community Survey to examine the relationship between race, family configurations, and inequalities in private school enrollment among adoptees. We find that private school enrollment is higher in transracial than in same-race families. This disparity is driven by the outcomes of adoptees in transracial families with zero rather than one same-race parent. Among adoptees themselves, there are diverging patterns of racial stratification in same-race and transracial families. White adoptees in same-race families are more likely to be enrolled in private school than Black, Asian, or Hispanic adoptees in such families. However, among adoptees in transracial families, the highest odds of private school enrollment are found among Asians. Finally, we argue that our findings have important implications for understanding how kinship cues, compensation, and social disadvantage shape parental investment in adopted children.

Cohort study on educational well-being of children of Chinese origin adopted into transracial and international families in the Spanish education system

The following dataset focuses on the educational well-being of adopted girls of Chinese origin in Spanish schools. Due to its characteristics, the presence of this group may generate complex interaction dynamics in school; particularly regarding bullying in school linked to factors such as the acceptance of others. These are dynamics, which may indeed condition the educational experience of this social group. Therefore, the aim of creating this dataset is to measure the educational well-being of children of Chinese origin adopted into transracial families in Spain. Although this research was justified by the lack of studies on this social group, we aimed to go one-step further, we also studied the correlation between this social group’s educational experience, and to what extent they show an interest in Chinese culture. As we have written before, we incorporated the concept of Well-Being and we worked with the following indicators: Satisfaction with Life, Social Life, and Bullying in School, Racial Bullying, Personal Identity and Interest in Chinese Culture. To achieve the objective set forth, we conducted a questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 268 individuals. The creation of this dataset provided us with information that can shed light on the relationship between adoption, race/ethnicity and the educational experience of adopted children of Chinese origin.

Bullying victimization among internationally adopted adolescents: Psychosocial adjustment and moderating factors

Bullying constitutes a serious risk factor for the psychosocial adjustment of young people in both the general population and minority groups. Among minorities, international adoptees are likely to show a specific vulnerability to the experience of being bullied, moderated by specific risk and protective factors. This study aimed to investigate the association between adoptees’ experience of bullying victimization and their psychosocial adjustment, and to explore the moderating role of adoptive identity and reflected minority categorization. An online, anonymous self-report questionnaire was completed by 140 adolescents (13–17 years), who were internationally adopted by Italian families. Findings showed that being victimized was associated with higher levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties, but that the strength of this relation varied according to the levels of adoptive identity and reflected minority categorization. Specifically, victimization was found to have a more detrimental and negative impact on psychological adjustment for adoptees who were highly identified with the adoptive group, and reported to be less perceived by others as members of the minority group. Results are discussed in relation to recommendations for further research as well as for professionals working with internationally adopted adolescents.

Advancing Research Within Asian American Psychology Using Asian Critical Race Theory and an Asian Americanist Perspective

Research within Asian American psychology continually grows to include a range of topics that expand on the heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity of the Asian American psychological experience. Still, research focused on distinct racialization and psychological processes of Asians in America is limited. To advance scientific knowledge on the study of race and racism in the lives of Asian Americans, we draw on Asian critical race theory and an Asian Americanist perspective that emphasizes the unique history of oppression, resilience, and resistance among Asian Americans. First, we discuss the rationale and significance of applying Asian critical race theory to Asian American psychology. Second, we review the racialized history of Asians in America, including the dissemination of essentialist stereotypes (e.g., perpetual foreigner, model minority, and sexual deviants) and the political formation of an Asian American racial identity beginning in the late 1960s. We emphasize that this history is inextricably linked to how race and racism is understood and studied today in Asian American psychology. Finally, we discuss the implications of Asian critical race theory and an Asian Americanist perspective to research within Asian American psychology and conclude with suggestions for future research to advance current theory and methodology.

Unpacking complexities in ethnic-racial socialization in transracial adoptive families: A process-oriented transactional system

Over 50% of adoptions are transracial, involving primarily White parents and children of color from different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Transracial adoptive (TRA) parents are tasked with providing ethnic-racial socialization processes (ERS) to support TRA adoptees' ethnic-racial identity development and prepare them to cope with ethnic-racial discrimination. However, unlike nonadoptive families of color, TRA parents lack shared cultural history with adoptees and have limited experience navigating racial discrimination. Knowledge of ERS among TRA families has centered on unidirectional processes between parenting constructs, ERS processes, and children's functioning. However, ERS processes in this population have complexities and nuances that warrant more sensitive and robust conceptualization. This paper proposes a process-oriented dynamic ecological model of the system of ERS, situating transacting processes in and across multiple family levels (parent, adoptee, family) and incorporating developmental and contextual considerations. With its framing of the complexities in ERS among TRA families, the model offers three contributions: a conceptual organization of parenting constructs related to ERS, a more robust understanding of ERS processes that inform how parents provide ERS, and framing of transacting processes within and between parenting constructs, ERS processes, and children's functioning. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Cultural socialization in childhood: Analysis of parent-child conversations with a direct observation measure

Cultural factors influence the development of all children. Yet, current knowledge of explicit cultural socialization processes in childhood remains limited, mainly by failing to incorporate the experiences of young children. To address this critical gap, the authors introduce the OMERS-Peds task, an observational measurement designed to systematically identify and compare the content of cultural messages passed down from caregivers to offspring during early school age years. The OMERS-Peds was administered to mothers and children (n = 275) from three diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds (African American (n = 153), Hispanic (n = 61), and non-Hispanic White (n = 61)) within the longitudinal Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers (MAPS) Study. The OMERS-Peds coding system was used to rate how strongly families endorsed 5 key constructs: family culture, religion, identity, ethnicity, and race. A series of χ2 statistic tests were used to compare scores across racial/ethnic backgrounds, and within families (between children and their mothers). Analyses revealed that in the cultural socialization conversations occurring in early childhood, parents and children prioritize talking about their family's culture and religion. Independent of their racial/ethnic backgrounds, mothers and children seldom discussed race and ethnicity. Contrary to research with older children, differences were mainly identified within families, rather than across racial/ethnic groups. Findings support the need to include children's perspectives in the assessments of cultural socialization, as opposed to relying primarily on parent reports, and highlight the importance of having an observational methodology that allows researchers to examine parent-child bidirectional interactions during early school age years in a systematic manner. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Mediating Effect of Depression on the Relationship between Social Support, Spirituality and Burnout in Family Members of Patients with Cancer

When the treatment process of cancer patients changes to outpatient treatment, the burden on family members increases and they often experience burnout. Burnout not only effects the family members themselves but may also have a negative effect on the health of the cancer patient. Therefore, healthcare providers should evaluate burnout in the family members of cancer patients and actively make efforts towards their burnout management. This study investigated the mediating effect of depression on the relationship between social support, spirituality, and burnout in family members of patients with cancer. Participants were 151 family members of patients with cancer who were receiving chemotherapy as outpatients at a single university hospital in Korea. Data was collected from 2 March to 31 May 2016, using self-reported questionnaires. Collected data was analyzed with t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's correlations, Baron and Kenny's three-step regression method, and the Sobel test. The participants' mean burnout was below the median. The participants' depression partially mediated the relationship of both social support and spirituality on burnout. Strategies to assess depression and strengthen social support and spirituality should be developed to manage burnout in family members'.

Increased risk of suicidal behaviour in non-European international adoptees decreases with age - A Swedish national cohort study

BACKGROUND

Non-European international adoptees in Sweden were shown to have a three-to fourfold higher risk of suicidal behaviour in youth during 1986-1995 compared with the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate whether this high risk persists beyond youth and in later cohorts.

METHODS

A register study of Swedish national cohorts born 1972-86 including 20 625 non-European international adoptees, and comparison populations of 10 915 non-European immigrants and 1 435 167 Swedish born was performed. The study population was followed from age 18 between 1991 and 2016, with suicide and hospital admissions due to suicide attempt as outcomes. Poisson regression models of person time in the study, adjusted for gender and household income at age 17, were fitted to calculate relative risks (RR).

FINDINGS

Adjusted RR for suicide in non-European international adoptees was high at age 18-22, 2·74 (95% C.I. 1·95-3·86), but decreased gradually to age 33-43 when the risk was similar to Swedish-born. Adjusted RR for suicide attempts in international adoptees was 2·33 (2·15-2·52) at age 18-22, decreased slightly with older age, but remained higher than Swedish born in all age-classes. Risks for both outcomes were greatest, around three times higher compared with the Swedish-born in the oldest birth cohorts of non-European international adoptees, born 1972-76. Risks for both suicidal outcomes increased with higher age at adoption.

INTERPRETATION

The risk of suicidal behaviour in non-European international adoptees in Sweden decreases with age and is lower in later birth cohorts and in infant adoptions.

Culturally Competent Parenting: A Test of Web-Based Training for Transracial Foster and Adoptive Parents

This study tested a web-based parenting course called FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) Culturally Competent Parenting (CCP) for transracial foster and adoptive parents. Research indicates that transracial children, whose parents practice culturally competent parenting, have positive outcomes. A mixed methods pretest posttest treatment and control group design were implemented to determine if there was a difference in parent scores on openness to cultural receptivity after completing the course in comparison to parents assigned the control group. Cultural receptivity is defined as the effort that parents are willing to put forth to learn about CCP. Additionally, parents who participated in the treatment course completed 2-month follow-up interviews on self-reported application of techniques. Results of the study showed that parents enrolled in the treatment course had significantly higher scores for openness to cultural receptivity after completing the course than before. Themes identified in follow-up interviews indicated parents' efforts to learn more about CCP.

Psychological correlates of interest in genetic testing among Korean American adoptees and their parents

Adopted persons increasingly have turned to genetic testing to obtain health information or to search for birth family. The present study investigated psychological factors that may contribute to interest among adoptees and their parents in genetic testing for the adoptee, including adoptees' ethnic identity development, their thoughts or curiosity about birth family (birth family thoughts), and the interaction of these two factors. Data were drawn from the second wave of a longitudinal study, conducted in 2014, on transracially, transnationally adopted Korean American adolescents and their adoptive parents. In a sample of 106 adolescent-parent dyads, 2 adolescents (1.89%) had undergone genetic testing. Among the dyads in which adolescents had not sought genetic testing, 47.12% of adolescents and 43.27% of parents indicated interest in genetic testing for the adolescent adoptee. Adolescents' interest in genetic testing was independent from parents' interest. Neither adolescent psychological adjustment nor physical health was related to interest in genetic testing in either adolescents or parents. Adolescents' birth family thoughts were related to adolescents' interest in genetic testing, but not to parents' interest in genetic testing for their child. This study showed ethnic identity exploration and resolution moderated the relationship between birth family thoughts and adolescents' interest in genetic testing. Results point to the relevance of birth family thoughts and identity development to genetic testing in transnational and transracial adolescent adoptees.

Adoptive Parenting Cognitions: Acknowledgement of Differences as a Predictor of Adolescents' Attachment to Parents

OBJECTIVE

Adoptive parents' acknowledgement of differences is defined as the propensity to think that adoptive and nonadoptive families are different in important ways. Few studies have examined the implications of such cognitions for the parent-child bond.

DESIGN

Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the relation between adoptive parents' acknowledgement of differences and adolescents' later attachment to their parents in a sample of within-race domestic infant adoptions. Data from 189 adoptive families were drawn from two waves (middle childhood, adolescence) of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project, a longitudinal study of openness in adoption.

RESULTS

Levels of acknowledgement of differences displayed by the adoptive mother and adoptive father during middle childhood positively predicted adopted adolescents' feelings of attachment towards the respective parent 8 years later. This relation depended on adopted adolescents' attitude toward adoption-related communication during middle childhood as well as the adoptive family's level of openness during middle childhood.

CONCLUSIONS

Acknowledgement of differences in adoptive families has positive implications for the parent-child bond.

Counseling Psychology and the Amelioration of Oppression: Translating Our Knowledge Into Action

In the new millennium, counseling psychologists have answered the call to address oppression related to intersectional identities. We have played a major role in the development of practice guidelines and policies, as well as in the application of ethical principles in cultural contexts. The Counseling Psychologist has served to disseminate information addressing needs and interventions for diverse communities. In this article, we review the history and impact of our efforts to ameliorate oppression. The pressing challenges of economic and educational disparities are highlighted along with how counseling psychologists are uniquely situated to meet the needs of the underserved. Our research, training, and practice are anchored in methodological pluralism, global helping paradigms, participatory engagement, and the promotion of liberation and radical healing. We offer recommendations to deconstruct current models and reconstruct a decolonized approach, embrace interdisciplinary collaboration to fight cultural encapsulation, strengthen prevention and advocacy, train a culturally diverse workforce, and prioritize intersectional research.

Self-Acceptance in Black and White

This reflective, autoethnographic qualitative case study at focus in this article is based on broader research on the experiences of Black teachers working at predominantly white and affluent private schools in the United States. It was motivated by the author/researcher’s own experiences of personal, academic, and professional racial identity development as a student, educator, parent, and educational administrator while living and working in predominantly white and affluent communities. The two main research questions this study engaged were: (1) How did the author/researcher develop her Black identity as a transracial adoptee living at the intersection of race and class; and, (2) What was the author/researcher’s journey towards her present state of racial self-acceptance and understanding? Three ancillary research questions were also engaged: (a) How did social and societal factors influence the author/researcher’s racial identity development? (b) How did the author/researcher build a support network of personal and professional community? and, (c) How was the author/researcher able to get to a place of self-love? Using Hill Collins’ (1998) intersectional analysis framework and Cross’s (1991) theory of Black racial identity development, this article explores the author/researcher’s experiences as an affluent racialized minority by unpacking lived experiences, coping strategies, and support mechanisms that led to her current professional calling.

Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents' Attitudes Towards Racial Socialization Practices

We tested the validity and measurement invariance of the Transracial Adoptive Parenting scale (TAPS) across sexual orientation with a nationwide sample of adoptive parents. Our study sample consisted of 737 heterosexual, 102 lesbian, and 64 gay adoptive parents from the Modern Adoptive Families (MAF) study, a cross-sectional survey. We conducted reliability analyses, as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for the 29-item TAPs. We then tested for measurement invariance based on sexual orientation. Findings show the TAPS is a reliable scale with a two-factor model measuring racial socialization and managing bias related to racial socialization practices. However, there was measurement invariance based on parent sexual orientation. Our study informs practitioners that the TAPS measure is a useful tool for assessment and intervention that can be used with sexual minority transracial adoptive parents. However, cautions against comparing TAPs scores across parental sexual orientation.

Ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development among internationally adopted Korean American adolescents: A seven-year follow-up

The relationship between ethnic socialization by parents, peers, and ethnic identity development was examined over a 7-year time span in a sample of 116 internationally adopted Korean American adolescents. Parent report data was collected in 2007 (Time 1 [T1]) when the adopted child was between 7 and 13 years old and again in 2014 at ages 13 to 20 years old (Time 2 [T2]). Adolescent report data also was collected in 2014. We examined differences in parent and adolescent reports of parental ethnic socialization at T2, changes in parent reports of ethnic socialization from T1 to T2, and the relationship among ethnic socialization by parents at T1 and T2, ethnic socialization by peers at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and resolution at T2. Results indicated parents reported higher levels of parental ethnic socialization than adolescents did at T2. Parent reports of parental ethnic socialization also decreased between childhood and adolescence. Adolescents reported higher parental ethnic socialization than peer ethnic socialization at T2. Path analysis demonstrated positive indirect pathways among parental ethnic socialization at T1, parental ethnic socialization and peer ethnic socialization at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity resolution at T2. The study highlights the cultural experiences of transracial, transnational adopted individuals, the role of both parents and peers in ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development, and the importance of longitudinal and multi-informant methodology. (PsycINFO Database Record

Danish sperm donors and the ethics of donation and selection

There has been a great deal of discussion about the ethical implications of donating sperm and of the ways in which donated tissue is presented, selected, and sold for use in assisted reproduction. Debates have emerged within the academic sphere, from donor offspring and recipients, and in broader popular culture, including questions about the commodification of human tissue and the eugenic potential of selecting donors from particular demographic categories. However, the voices of donors themselves on this subject have been largely silent. This paper draws on data from qualitative interviews with men who donated at a major Danish sperm bank between 2012 and 2013. It argues that many of them are indeed thinking through these complex issues. Donors' approaches to ethical issues fell into two broad 'types': a pragmatic, individualistic approach which focused on more immediate personal consequences, and an ethically-driven approach in which donors considered the impact of donation on offspring and on a wider societal level.

Shifting views and building bonds: Narratives of internationally adopted children about their dual culture

American literature on international adoption suggests that adoptees' pride in the culture of their birth country improves their self-esteem and helps them to cope with experiences of racism. Parents are therefore encouraged to teach their adopted children multicultural skills to improve their psychological well-being. French psychologists, on the contrary, suggest that adoptees should feel fully members of their adoptive country and families. These practices shed light on the respective multicultural and universalist paradigms in the US and France. Few papers, however, consider the opinions of adoptees. This study explores internationally adopted children raised in France and their spontaneous curiosity about their birth country. The present study used semi-structured interviews with 19 adoptees aged 8-18 years old, to explore their attitudes towards the culture of their birth country. Transcripts of recorded interviews were analyzed according to interpretative phenomenological analysis. While there was striking consistency of interest in birth countries, adoptees' expression of curiosity varied across time. Children described distinctive goals: knowing more about their history, finding relatives, becoming a multicultural citizen, or simply helping people. Their parents' involvement was thus seen as helpful, but adoptees stress the need to feel ready and may prefer independent ways of learning about their birth country. Adoptees' multiple feelings of belonging derive not only from multicultural training but from a lifelong construction of self. Professionals and parents may need to adapt to adoptees' individual development, distinctive time frames, and ways of learning to provide better support to them.

A dance of ambiguous constructions: White South African transracial adoptive and foster mothers’ discourses on race

‘Transracial’ adoption and fostering offer fertile ground for exploring how constructions of race can operate. This qualitative study engaged in a discourse analysis of interviews with 17 South African mothers identifying as White who have adopted and who foster transracially. Focus was placed on how they talk about race through their discussions of mothering. Findings highlight how race is constructed largely in an ambivalent manner and how aversive racism can coexist with intentionally devoted mothering. Some mothers in this study, however, do assume a consciously reflexive stance in their deconstruction of race.

Placing Asian American Child Development Within Historical Context

This article discusses influences of historical time and place on the development of children and youth of Asian descent in the U.S. Chinese, Indian, Hmong, and Filipino American experiences illustrate how history has defined race and racial stereotypes, determined cultural and community contexts, established pre-/postmigration circumstances, and influenced oppression and discrimination. Cross-cutting issues as applied to other ethnicities are discussed. By recognizing history's reach on child development, this article intends to inspire others to acknowledge and consider historical influences in their work. It also lays a foundation for the two ensuing articles within this Special Section, which present a novel conceptual framework (Mistry et al., this volume) and methodological recommendations (Yoshikawa, Mistry, & Wang, this volume) for research.

Mental Health in Internationally Adopted Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether mental health problems differ between internationally adopted adolescents and their non-adopted peers and examine design and sample characteristics that might underlie differences among studies.

METHOD

Studies published through August 2015 were collected through Embase, Medline, PsychINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, and Svemed+. Combined effect estimates were calculated using random-effects models.

RESULTS

Eleven studies investigating 17,919 adoptees and 1,090,289 non-adopted peers were included in the meta-analysis. Internationally adopted adolescents reported more mental health problems across domains than their peers, with effect estimates (standardized mean differences [SMDs]) of 0.16 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.28) for questionnaire-based studies and 0.70 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.90) for register-based studies. They also reported significantly more externalizing difficulties (SMD 0.20, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.38), although the effect estimate for internalizing difficulties was not statistically significant (SMD 0.10, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.24). Studies using categorical measurements of mental health problems, indicating more serious problems, yielded larger effect estimates than continuous measurements (SMD 0.31, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.41; SMD 0.13, 95% CI -0.01 to 0.26, respectively). The difference in mental health problems between international adoptees and their peers was somewhat larger when using parent report compared with self-report. More recent studies (conducted in 1995 and later) yielded larger estimates than older studies, although no significant difference was found for this analysis or subgroup analyses investigating sex and age at adoption.

CONCLUSION

Although most internationally adopted adolescents are well adjusted, adoptees as a group report higher levels of mental health problems compared with non-adopted peers. This difference should be acknowledged and adequate support services should be made available.

Social Dominance Orientation and Ideological Asymmetry in Relation To Interracial Dating and Transracial Adoption in Canada

This study examines the relation between social dominance orientation (SDO) and three hierarchy-attenuating beliefs (attitude toward and openness to personally engaging in interracial dating and attitude toward transracial adoption) and two hierarchy-enhancing beliefs (stereotyping of interracial relationships and racial identity concerns in transracial adoption). Participants were 77 Black and 142 White Canadians from the Toronto area. SDO was significantly negatively related to the three hierarchy-attenuating beliefs and positively to the two hierarchy-enhancing beliefs for Whites, whereas no significant relationships were found for Blacks. The relation between SDO and the outcome variables for Blacks and Whites differed significantly with the exception of openness to interracial dating. Interracial dating experience moderated the relation between race, SDO, and openness to become personally involved in interracial dating. Results support and extend previous research by Fang, Sidanius, and Pratto. Their social implications are discussed.

The Practice of Adoption

This article presents an overview of the practice of adoption to counseling psychologists to promote clinical understanding of the adoption experience and to stimulate research on adoption. The article includes definitions of adoption terminology, important historical and legal developments for adoption, a summary of adoption statistics, conceptualizations of adoption experience, themes and trends in adoption outcome research related to adoptees and birthparents, and selected theoretical models of adoption. The importance of considering social context variables in adoption practice and research is emphasized.

Birth Parents in Adoption

This article addresses birth parents in the adoption triad by reviewing and integrating both the clinical and empirical literature from a number of professional disciplines with practice case studies. This review includes literature on the decision to relinquish one’s child for adoption, the early postrelinquishment period, and the effects throughout the lifespan on birth parents. Clinical symptoms for birth parents include unresolved grief, isolation, difficulty with future relationships, and trauma. Some recent research has found that some birth mothers who relinquish tend to fare comparably to those who do not relinquish on external criteria of well-being (e.g., high school graduation rates). However, there appear to be serious long-term psychological consequences of relinquishment. Limitations of the current literature are presented, and recommendations for practice and research are offered.

Adoption

Implications are discussed in response to the Major Contribution in this issue reviewing the history, controversies, and theoretical and research literature related to adoption. Practice recommendations for therapists working with adopted children and their families are clustered around three prominent themes in the reviews by Lee, O'Brien and Zamostny, and Zamostny, O'Brien, Baden, and Wiley: variability in experience, resilience, and social context.

Counseling Adopted Persons in Adulthood

For the past 50 years, adults who were adopted during infancy have been research participants for empirical studies with goals ranging from twin studies for heritability, to adjustment following adoption, to attachment. While the research body is broad, it has given little attention to counseling practices with adopted adults. Because empirical research and clinical practice can inform each other, this article integrates literatures in both areas so that counseling practice with adopted adults can guide research, just as research guides practice. The authors grouped the clinically relevant literature into three main areas: identity (including genealogical and transracial adoption issues), search and reunion, and long-term outcomes. Within each section, the authors critiqued the literature as it informs counseling practice, used case studies to depict clinical implications, and suggested treatment strategies for use with adult adoptees. Epidemiological research found adequate adjustment for adopted adults. However, clinicians and researchers must address the consistent finding that a subset of adoptees struggles and copes with issues different than their nonadopted counterparts. The authors identify best clinical practices and a future research agenda related to adult adoptees and propose an adoption-sensitive paradigm for research and practice.

Is Early Experience Destiny? Review of Research on Long-Term Outcomes following International Adoption with Special Reference to the British Chinese Adoption Study

The pathway from adverse early experience to adulthood for internationally adopted children is complex in identifying key influences, impacts, and outcomes. This review arose from the authors' involvement in the British Chinese Adoption Study, a recent outcomes study that explored the links between early orphanage care, adoptive experiences, and midadulthood. It differs from previous reviews in focusing on a greater length of time since adoption. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were included to allow for examination of a fuller range of adult-related outcomes rather than mental health scores alone. The sampling, methods, and results of reviewed articles are summarised and a critical commentary is provided. Despite methodological differences and identified strengths and weaknesses, conclusions are drawn on the basis of the evidence available. Special attention is paid to the interpretation of negative outcomes. Findings identify areas that should be explored further in order to gain a fuller understanding of midlife outcomes of people who experienced a poor start in life followed by international adoption. Such studies help in refining lifespan developmental theories.

Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents’ Socialization Approaches to Children’s Minority Statuses

This study examined the narratives of 82 adoptive parents (41 couples: 15 lesbian, 15 gay male, 11 heterosexual) of young children ( M age = 5.81 years) with a focus on understanding parents’ socialization practices and strategies surrounding race (among parents of children of color), and family structure (among lesbian or gay [LG] parents). Most parents described an engaged approach to socialization surrounding their children’s racial minority and LG-parent family statuses, employing strategies such as (a) holding parent–child conversations aimed at instilling pride, (b) seeking communities that reflect their child’s identities (more often LG than heterosexual), and (c) educating about racism and heterosexism. Some parents described a cautious approach in which they acknowledged their child’s racial background and LG-parent family status but were cautious about not being overly focused on their differences. A minority of parents (more often heterosexual than LG) described an avoidant approach, whereby they did not discuss their child’s differences.

Adoption, Foreign-Born Status, and Children's Progress in School

Using recent data from the American Community Survey, the author investigated how the dynamics of immigration influence our understanding of the adoption-schooling relationship. The results suggest that implications of immigrant and adoption statuses could be understood within specific familial contexts. Thus, no statistical differences were found in the outcomes of foreign-born adoptees in U.S. native families and their peers with immigrant parents. Instead, the most favorable patterns of schooling progress were found among U.S.-born adoptees living in immigrant families. Among immigrants, the analysis indicated similar patterns of achievement among Hispanic and White adoptees that are inconsistent with the predictions of segmented assimilation theory. However, there was a Hispanic disadvantage relative to Whites among immigrant children living with biological and stepparents. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for kinship selection and assimilation processes and the contention that alternative theoretical frameworks should be used to understand the implications of adoption status.

Participation in the Adoption Mentoring Partnership: Mentors' Experiences of Ethnic Identity

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.

"American" or "Multiethnic"? Family Ethnic Identity Among Transracial Adoptive Families, Ethnic-Racial Socialization, and Children's Self-Perception

Drawing on a model of ethnic-racial socialization (E-RS; Pinderhughes, 2013), this study examined hypothesized relations among parents' role variables (family ethnic identity and acknowledgment of cultural and racial differences), cultural socialization (CS) behaviors, and children's self-perceptions (ethnic self-label and feelings about self-label). The sample comprised 44 U.S.-based parents and their daughters ages 6 to 9 who were adopted from China. Correlation analyses revealed that parents' role variables and CS behaviors were related, and children's ethnic self-label was related to family ethnic identity and CS behaviors. Qualitative analyses point to complexities in children's ethnic identity and between family and children's ethnic identities. Together, these findings provide support for the theoretical model and suggest that although ethnic identity among international transracial adoptees (ITRAs) has similarities to that of nonadopted ethnic minority children, their internal experiences are more complex.