Children's beliefs about adoption: A developmental study

Singer, Leslie M.; Brodzinsky, David M.; Braff, Anne M.

doi:10.1016/0193-3973(82)90001-6

Cited by 27 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…She\he is likely at this age to have developed the ability to keep a secret. At ages 8 to 10 the child might naturally question whether she\he is adopted : ' Are these really my Singer, Brodzinsky and Bratt (1982) describe how, by the age of 8, a child is able to reflect upon the unknown past and birth parents and how at this stage the initial response to be adopted and ' chosen ' becomes one of ambivalence. Therefore, the parents' accounts in this study of finding it easier to tell children at younger ages might reflect the child's level of understanding and developmental stage, with more mixed feelings and more difficult questions being raised as the child grows older.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Donor Insemination: Telling Children About Their Origins

Hunter

Salter-Ling

Glover

2000

Child Adolesc Ment Health

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Despite growing discussion of the potential benefits of openness in relation to children conceived by donated gametes, the majority of parents do not intend to tell a future child about his/her origins. As a result little is actually known about the experiences and concerns of families who do choose openness. This is a descriptive study of 83 DI Network members who did intend to or had told a child conceived, using donor insemination, about his/her origins. Quantitative and qualitative data focused on their concerns and experiences of telling. Health professionals face the challenge of providing the opportunity for discussion of these issues both before treatment and afterwards during childhood.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Donor Insemination: Telling Children About Their Origins

Hunter

Salter-Ling

Glover

2000

Child Adolesc Ment Health

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“…The adopted child’s perception and understanding of adoption change with increasing age and become gradually less positive and more complex throughout childhood and into adolescence (Brodzinsky, 1990; Brodzinsky, Singer, & Braff, 1984; Brodzinsky, Smith, & Brodzinsky, 1998; Singer, Brodzinsky, & Braff, 1982). In the preschool years, children begin to differentiate between adoption and birth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adoptive and Nonadoptive Mother–Child Behavioral Interaction: A Comparative Study at 4 Years of Age

et al. 2015

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Comparable samples of low-risk adopted and nonadopted children and mothers were observed during 3 tasks at age 4 years. Quality of mother-child interactions, child level of functioning in 4 domains, and maternal parenting satisfaction and social support were assessed. Adopted children were as competent as nonadopted children on measures of developmental functioning. Both groups of mothers expressed high satisfaction and support as parents. However, ratings of child, maternal, and dyadic behavior when interacting were all lower for adoptive dyads than for nonadoptive dyads, and adoptive dyads with boys accounted for the maternal and dyadic group differences.

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“…However, in middle to late childhood, some adoptees exhibit higher levels of psychological maladjustment than nonadoptees (Brand & Brinich, 1999). One possible explanation for this is that problems emerge at this stage due to the child's growing understanding of the concept of adoption, and their resulting feelings of loss (Singer, Brodzinsky, & Braff, 1982). Embryo donation children may 3 Embryo donation families: Follow-up exhibit similar problems during this period if they also feel a sense of the loss of their genetic parents However, this loss will be consciously felt only if embryo donation children are aware that they are not their social parents' genetic offspring.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, middle childhood is the stage at which problems in psychological development emerge for some adopted children. It may be that the elevated 6 Embryo donation families: Follow-up rates of difficulties in adoptees are due to adoption-specific characteristics, such as the growing awareness of the relinquishment by birth parents (Singer et al, 1982), or the experience of non-optimal prenatal and preplacement environments (Brodzinsky et al, 1998).If so, embryo donation children would not be expected to show the same increase. On the other hand, if problems of adopted children are directly related to a lack of genetic relationships in the family resulting in lower quality parenting as would be predicted by evolutionary psychology (Bjorklund et al, 2002), similar patterns would be predicted for embryo donation children.…”

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confidence: 99%

Embryo donation families: A follow-up in middle childhood.

MacCallum

Keeley

2008

Journal of Family Psychology

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Couples who conceive using donated embryos rear a child to whom they are genetically unrelated. It has been suggested that this may have negative consequences for parenting and child development. Findings are presented of the second phase of an exploratory study of families with a child conceived through embryo donation. Seventeen embryo donation families with a 5-9 year old child were compared with 24 adoptive families and 28 in vitro fertilisation families. The quality of the mother's parenting, and the child's social and emotional development were assessed using standardised interviews and questionnaires administered to mothers and teachers. Embryo donation children were not at increased risk of psychological problems during middle childhood and the families were generally functioning well. However, higher emotional over-involvement of embryo donation parents was found, along with more reluctance to disclose the method of family creation. These preliminary findings are discussed in terms of implications regarding the importance of genetic and gestational relationships between parents and children.2 Embryo donation families: Follow-up Since the birth of the first IVF baby nearly 30 years ago (Steptoe & Edwards, 1978), the number of couples using assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) has steadily increased. By 2002, approximately one in every 100 babies born in the US was conceived through ARTs (American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 2008). Furthermore, in the UK in 2004 nearly 30,000 couples attempted fertility treatment, a three-fold increase on the frequency in 1991 (HFEA, 2005). One form of ART is embryo donation, where an embryo created by the gametes of one couple is donated to another couple who then rear the resulting child. Unlike straightforward IVF, embryo donation was developed more recently and is less frequently used, with an average of ~35 embryo donation children born per year in the UK over the last decade (HFEA, personal communication). Concerns have been raised about the potentially adverse psychological consequences of this new method of family formation, but very little research has investigated the experiences of embryo donation families.Conceiving a child using donated embryos results in a family structure where the child is not genetically related to either parent, paralleling that seen in adoptive families.Adoption presents children with specific psychological tasks including coping with the knowledge that they are adopted, and incorporating this awareness into a coherent sense of identity (Triseliotis, Shireman, & Hundleby, 1997). Outcomes for the psychological development of adopted children are mixed. Non-clinical studies of adopted children do not find them to be at risk of problems with temperament or development in infancy and early childhood (Carey, Lipton, & Myers, 1974;Plomin & DeFries, 1985). However, in middle to late childhood, some adoptees exhibit higher levels of psychological maladjustment than nonadoptees (Brand & Brinich, 1999). One possible explanati...

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Children's beliefs about adoption: A developmental study

Cited by 27 publications

References 22 publications

Donor Insemination: Telling Children About Their Origins

Donor Insemination: Telling Children About Their Origins

Adoptive and Nonadoptive Mother–Child Behavioral Interaction: A Comparative Study at 4 Years of Age

Embryo donation families: A follow-up in middle childhood.

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