Children's and parents' thoughts and feelings about adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination in families with internationally adopted children

Reinoso, Marta; Juffer, Femmie; Tieman, Wendy

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00841.x

Cited by 43 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Although age at adoption was not directly associated with level of ethnic identity, it appears to be a crucial factor in influencing mothers' enculturation strategies. Confirming results of previous research (Reinoso et al, ), the older children at the moment of placement into the adoptive family, the stronger the push on the adoptive mothers to recognise the crucial connections with their heritage culture.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Therefore, in testing the proposed model, the effect of age at adoption was taken into account. In particular, based on recent studies, this latter variable was expected to be positively correlated with the adoptive mothers' enculturation (Reinoso, Juffer, & Tieman, ) and with the level of the adoptee's ethnic identity (Wickes & Slate, ). We expected to find that the older a child is at placement, the higher the degree of mother's cultural socialisation strategies and of ethnic identity would be.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transracial adoptees bridging heritage and national cultures: Parental socialisation, ethnic identity and self‐esteem

et al. 2015

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Transracial adoptees represent a specific group of immigrants who experience unique immigration processes that bring them face-to-face with two cultural backgrounds: that of their heritage culture on one hand and that of their national culture on the other hand. However, there is a scarcity of studies focused on the way these processes unfold within adoptive families. This study was aimed at exploring how transracial adoptees cope with the construction of their ethnic identity. Administering a self-report questionnaire to 127 transracial adoptees and their mothers, for a total of 254 participants, we first investigated the association between mothers' cultural socialisation (enculturation and preparation for bias strategies) and adoptees' ethnic identity (i.e. ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity affirmation dimensions). We then investigated whether ethnic identity affects self-esteem by testing the hypothesis that national identity moderates the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem. Results revealed that mothers' enculturation (but not their preparation for bias) supported adoptees' ethnic identity exploration, which in turn was positively associated with ethnic identity affirmation. Moreover, we confirmed the moderation effect: ethnic identity affirmation enhanced the level of self-esteem, but only for those adoptees who perceived a higher degree of national identity affirmation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Transracial adoptees bridging heritage and national cultures: Parental socialisation, ethnic identity and self‐esteem

et al. 2015

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“…Fourth, consistent with research on racism experiences of adopted children in Spain (Reinoso, Juffer, & Tieman, 2013), the results indicate that adoptees of Eastern European origin who do not differ in appearance from the general Finnish population had experienced less racial discrimination than adoptees with other continents of birth. Specifically, adoptees with an African background perceived more racial discrimination, and possibly due to those experiences, also more psychological distress.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Consistent with these qualitative studies, a handful of quantitative studies focusing on racial discrimination among internationally adopted children in Spain (Reinoso, Juffer, & Tieman, 2013), the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States (Riley-Behringer, Groza, Tieman, & Juffer, 2014) have shown the prevalence of racial discrimination, especially among nonwhite adoptees. The most compelling message of these studies is that perceived discrimination is harmful for social and psychological well-being, and that to deal with it adoptees need to develop a broad range of coping strategies to respond to the diverse situations in which they may perceive discrimination.…”

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confidence: 79%

Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological outcomes among adult international adoptees in Finland: Moderating effects of social support and sense of coherence.

Koskinen

Elovainio

Raaska

et al. 2015

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry

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Quantitative literature on international adoptees and racial/ethnic discrimination is lacking despite results in qualitative studies from Europe and the United States that have consistently indicated how racism constantly complicates adoptees' everyday lives. To advance the literature, the present study examined the prevalence of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination among 213 adult international adoptees in Finland (59.6% women and 40.4% men, mean age 24.1 years), and the association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological well-being indicators, including psychological distress and sleeping problems.In addition, we examined social support and sense of coherence as moderators of the association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological well-being. Our results showed that on average adult international adoptees perceived racial/ethnic discrimination occasionally. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated a significant association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological distress and sleeping problems. Additionally, a significant two-way interaction of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and social support indicated that the availability of social support may moderate the association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological distress such that adoptees with high levels of social support may be protected from the Running head: PERCEIVED RACIAL/ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION 3 harmful effects of discrimination. These results highlight the meaning of social support in reducing the harmful effects of racial/ethnic discrimination on international adoptees.Finland is a Scandinavian state with one of the world's most comprehensive welfare systems, a high-quality education system, gender equality and human rights. Compared with other Nordic and most European countries, the number of people with a foreign background is still small in Finland. In 2011, the number of people of foreign origin was 257,000, about 5% of the total population of 5.4 million. By continent, 59% of all people with a foreign background were of European origin, 23% were of Asian origin, and 12% were of African

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“…Problems affecting children included insults, jokes, teasing, derogatory comments and intrusive questioning. Results reported here, in conjunction with our previous findings in this sample (Reinoso et al 2013), constitute evidence that discrimination based on adoptive status or race is not an uncommon experience for international adoptees, particularly for those placed transracially (see also Stress, coping and adjustment in adoptees M Reinoso et al aged children, as at these ages, children have an increased awareness of the stigma associated with adoption and a sense of difference (Brodzinsky et al 1992;Juffer 2006;Juffer & Tieman 2009). Also, it is worth noting that children, in general, tend to find bullying difficult to discuss with their parents (Demaray & Malecki 2003;Fekkes et al 2005;Jankauskiene et al 2008), and, specifically for adoptees, this subject may be hard to discuss as adoption-related bullying affects the whole family.…”

Section: Adopted Children's Problemssupporting

confidence: 81%

Internationally adopted children's general and adoption‐specific stressors, coping strategies and psychological adjustment

Reinoso

Pereda²,

Dries

et al. 2013

Child & Family Social Work

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A B S T R AC TWe examined stress, coping and psychological adjustment of 68 children, aged 8-12, who were internationally adopted to Spain. Using the Kidcope, all children were asked about the most stressful general and adoption-related problem they experienced and the use and effectiveness of various coping strategies when dealing with the problem. For all reported problems, the nature of the problem (personal, interpersonal, regarding others), the content, the degree of stress it created and its perceived controllability were analysed. Emotional and behavioural functionings were assessed with the Behaviour Assessment System for Children. About half of the children mentioned specific problems concerning the adoption, with inracial adoptees reporting less adoption-related problems than transracial adoptees. For general and adoption-related problems, interpersonal problems were mentioned most often. With regard to the content, 'relationships' and 'victimization' were mentioned most often for general and adoption-related problems, respectively. Adoptionrelated problems were appraised as less controllable. No differences emerged in terms of coping with general or adoption-related problems except for 'self-criticism'. Overall, the children used many coping strategies and were generally well-adjusted. Identifying the problems and coping strategies of adoptees is important in order to help these children and their families tackle these stressors. I N T R O D U C T I O NSpain is the second country in the world, after the US, in terms of number of internationally adopted children (Selman 2009). In Spain, both international and domestic adoptions coexist, although the former are considerably more preponderant than the latter (Palacios & Amorós 2006). At their peak in 2004, the number of intercountry adoptions reached up to 5541. Despite a sharp decline since then, following the downward trend for most receiving countries, the number of children adopted internationally is still significant (Selman 2009 Spain, research in this area is limited, especially for children in middle childhood. In Spain the population of adoptees in middle childhood and adolescence is still rather small, as international adoption only started in 1996, after the ratification of the Hague convention. In recent years, the first studies on the psychological adjustment of this subgroup have started to appear (e.g. Barni et al. 2008;Reinoso & Forns 2011;Barcons-Castel et al. 2011), but research focussing on adoptees' own experiences is still lacking. There are, however, a few exceptions. In a previous study on the current sample we explored the perceptions of adoption for the first time (Reinoso et al. 2013). The present paper complements our previous work by examining stress, coping and psychological adjustment of these children. Stress in adopted childrenAdopted children often experience hardship at the beginning of their lives, including separation from their biological parents, institutional rearing, malnutrition, deprivation, insufficient medical ...

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Children's and parents' thoughts and feelings about adoption, birth culture identity and discrimination in families with internationally adopted children

Cited by 43 publications

References 40 publications

Transracial adoptees bridging heritage and national cultures: Parental socialisation, ethnic identity and self‐esteem

Transracial adoptees bridging heritage and national cultures: Parental socialisation, ethnic identity and self‐esteem

Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and psychological outcomes among adult international adoptees in Finland: Moderating effects of social support and sense of coherence.

Internationally adopted children's general and adoption‐specific stressors, coping strategies and psychological adjustment

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