Tech‐Mediated and Traditional Communication Modes in Adult Adoptees' Contact With Birth Parents

Abstract

ObjectiveTo understand how adult adoptees use traditional and tech‐mediated modes of communication in contact with birth parents. To examine associations between desire for increased use of both modes and quality of relationship.BackgroundAs tech‐mediated modes of communication become more commonplace, it is important to understand their implications for family relationship quality. Limited research has examined the use of tech‐mediated modes of communication between adult adoptees and birth parents.MethodParticipants (Mage = 31 years) were adopted as infants (N = 90). Participants reported their current and desired future use of traditional and tech‐mediated communication modes and their satisfaction with contact, current closeness, desired future closeness, and psychological presence of birth parents.ResultsThose with current contact reported using both traditional and tech‐mediated modes of communication. Desired increase of traditional modes was associated with greater psychological presence and desired future closeness with birth mothers, while both traditional and tech‐mediated were associated with these outcomes for birth fathers.ConclusionAdult adoptees use both traditional and tech‐mediated modes of communication with their birth parents. However, these modes may play distinct roles in maintaining close relationships with birth parents.ImplicationsFamily professionals should consider the unique roles traditional and tech‐mediated modes of communication may play when supporting adult adoptees in contact with birth relatives.

Communication Privacy Management in Open Adoption Relationships: Negotiating Co-ownership across In-person and Mediated Communication

“…Thus, having a particular mode of contact opened or closed is likely more important than the frequency with which that mode is used. Thus, it is common practice in adoption research to assess the channels over frequency (Cashen et al, 2020). Second, using bimodal variables limited the number of parameters across the models and allowed for comparison on each model path, thus offering a statistical benefit by producing more information across the components of the model.…”