Transition and Adaptation to Adoptive Motherhood

Fontenot, Holly B.

doi:10.1111/j.1552-6909.2007.00134.x

Cited by 47 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(24 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…From the moment they were informed about their children, many parents already considered themselves to be their parents and felt a bond to them. This pre-adoption attachment has been found in other studies of adoptive mothers (Fontenot, 2007;Koepke, Anglin, Austin, & Delesalle, 1991;Solchany, 1998) but in this study fathers also spoke of feeling as if the child was already theirs.…”

Section: 'Finally It Happened'supporting

confidence: 59%

‘It's Quite a Journey’: Australian Parents’ Experience of Adopting Older Children from Overseas Orphanages

Alessia¹,

Roufeil

2012

Children Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intercountry adoption, often of children post-infancy, is one way of forming a family in Australia. However, few studies have invited Australian parents who have incorporated older children into their family to tell their story. Fathers are under-represented in studies of parenting generally and adoptive parenting specifically.As part requirement for a clinical psychology dissertation, with ethics approval from the relevant university, 28 parents (13 fathers and 15 mothers) were interviewed about their experiences of adopting children over the age of 24 months from orphanages in China, Ethiopia, India and Thailand. Although parents' experiences and recollections were diverse, almost all parents had been confronted by difficult child behaviours, at least initially. Contrary to previous research, the child's gender, age or duration of institutional care did not appear related to parental experience.Six major themes emerged from parent interviews: (1) the long wait and intense emotions of adoption; (2) disparity between expectations and reality; (3) recognition of children's difficult past experiences; (4) parenting as a path to self-discovery; (5) the perception of needing to present as coping; and (6) unmet needs. Mothers blamed themselves for their children's behavioural problems, rather than attributing difficulties to children's previous adverse life events. Both mothers and fathers were reluctant to use support services because they felt scrutinised and feared repercussions, and those who sought assistance generally found professionals ill-informed and unhelpful. Parents made recommendations about how the adoptive parenting process could be improved and expressed a strong desire for more information, both pre-and post-placement.

show abstract

Section: 'Finally It Happened'supporting

confidence: 59%

‘It's Quite a Journey’: Australian Parents’ Experience of Adopting Older Children from Overseas Orphanages

Alessia¹,

Roufeil

2012

Children Australia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Yet, adoptive parents also experience a series of challenging transitions during the post-adoption period. In fact, existing research suggests that adoptive parents face unique obstacles, emotions, and transitions as they adapt to parenthood (Fontenot, 2007;Levy-Shiff, Goldshmidt, & Har-Even, 1991). Adoptive parents' transition to parenthood is uniquely distinguished by experiences with infertility (Cohen, Coyne, & Duvall, 1993;Daniluk & Hurtig-Mitchell, 2003), navigating first-time parenthood at an older age, on average (Ceballo et al, 2004;Cohen et al, 1993;Dean, Dean, White, & Liu, 1995;Gjerdingen & Froberg, 1991), an increased likelihood of parenting children with preexisting behavioral/emotional difficulties (Glidden, 2000;Glidden & Floyd, 1997;Lazarus, Evans, Glidden, & Flaherty, 2002;Mainemer, Gilman, & Ames, 1998;McGlone, Santos, Kazama, Fong, & Mueller, 2002), an increased likelihood of parenting children who are of a different race (Lazarus et al, 2002), and the stigma attached to adoption (Wegar, 1995).…”

Section: Downloaded By [Selcuk Universitesi] At 02:14 09 February 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to Parenthood During the Post-Adoption Period: A Review of the Literature

2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Gratification to mothering is an activator to preserve in the maternal role and identity (Logsdon, Wisner, & Pinto-Foltz, 2006) and self-satisfaction as a mother is positively related with role acquisition and self-assessment as a mother (Fontenot, 2007;Mercer, 2004). Therefore, it is very important that positive emotion such as transitional gratification or pleasure to motherhood may have positive effect on the process of becoming a mother and maternal role performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Maternal identity refers to the perception and emotions as a mother in the maternal-infant relationship, which is formed through the process of psychosocial transition of becoming a mother after childbirth (Fontenot, 2007;Mercer, 2006). According to Rubin (1984), the core of maternal identity resides in the concepts of I (mother) and you (infant), which influence each other.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Maternal Identity of Korean Primiparas

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing maternal identity of Korean primiparas. Methods: The data were collected by a self-report questionnaire in 2006. The participants were 210 healthy primiparous women who delivered at one of three medical centers and revisited the outpatient department for follow up between 4 to 6 weeks after childbirth. Data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 17.0 program with descriptive statistics, t-test, one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: Maternal identity was significantly correlated with Taekyo accomplishment, the culturally based prenatal preparation (p< .001). Transitional gratification to motherhood (p< .001), postpartum depression (p< .001), childcare stress (p< .001), infant temperament (p< .001), and social support (p< .001) were also significantly correlated with maternal identity. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that maternal identity was significantly predicted by transitional gratification to motherhood, infant temperament, childcare stress, and Taekyo accomplishment. These variables explained 31.0% of the variance of maternal identity. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that postpartum nursing interventions to promote maternal identity should focus on reinforcing education and support for reducing childcare stress and infant difficulty, and increasing transitional gratification to motherhood. Also, prenatal encouragement and education for improving Taekyo accomplishment may be helpful to promote maternal identity after birth.

show abstract

Transition and Adaptation to Adoptive Motherhood

Cited by 47 publications

References 10 publications

‘It's Quite a Journey’: Australian Parents’ Experience of Adopting Older Children from Overseas Orphanages

‘It's Quite a Journey’: Australian Parents’ Experience of Adopting Older Children from Overseas Orphanages

Adaptation to Parenthood During the Post-Adoption Period: A Review of the Literature

Predictors of Maternal Identity of Korean Primiparas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About