Sibling Roles Represented in Children's Books about Chinese–US Family Adoption

Abstract

This study examined the presence of protector and educator sibling roles in children's books about adoption of Chinese daughters by US families. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on a sample of 27 books. The books were coded independently by two researchers. Directional coding (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) for the presence/absence of protector and educator roles was conducted. The results indicated that the protector role was evident when siblings were (i) caring about adoptees’ entry into the families, (ii) providing comfort when adoptees were scared, and (iii) intervening when adoptees were bullied. The educator role was evident when siblings were (i) seeking to bridge linguistic barriers, (ii) preparing to teach adoptees about China, and (iii) explaining birth/adoptive parent distinctions. Implications of this study are offered for family and consumer science researchers and practitioners/service providers.