Young adult international adoptees' search for birth parents.

This study examines international adoptees and factors associated with searching for birth parents. A total of 1,417 international adoptees in The Netherlands, aged 24 to 30 years, were divided into 4 groups: uninterested nonsearchers, interested nonsearchers, searchers, and reunited searchers. In total, 32% of adoptees had searched. Although the majority of searchers were well-adjusted, they had more problems--mainly internalizing problems--than uninterested nonsearchers. These problems, however, were not caused by the search itself. It is concluded that searching is the product of natural curiosity influenced by external factors such as the divorce of adoptive parents and the options for searching.

[1]  Marinus H. van IJzendoorn,et al.  The Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture 2006: adoption as intervention. Meta-analytic evidence for massive catch-up and plasticity in physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development. , 2006, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[2]  Richard M. Lee,et al.  Cultural socialization in families with internationally adopted children. , 2006, Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

[3]  F. Juffer.  Children's Awareness of Adoption and Their Problem Behavior in Families with 7-Year-Old Internationally Adopted Children , 2006 .

[4]  F. Verhulst,et al.  Psychiatric disorders in young adult intercountry adoptees: an epidemiological study. , 2005, The American journal of psychiatry.

[5]  H. Grotevant,et al.  Adolescent Search for Birthparents , 2004 .

[6]  U. Miiller,et al.  Predictors of Psychological Functioning and Adoption Experience in Adults Searching for Their Birthparents , 2002 .

[7]  D. Brodzinsky,et al.  Coping with birthparent loss in adopted children. , 2002, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[8]  D. Howe,et al.  The long term outcome of reunions between adult adopted people and their birth mothers. , 2001 .

[9]  U. Müller,et al.  Adopted Persons' Search for and Contact with Their Birth Parents II , 2001 .

[10]  R. Levy-Shiff,et al.  Psychological adjustment of adoptees in adulthood: Family environment and adoption-related correlates , 2001 .

[11]  U. Müller,et al.  Adopted Persons' Search for and Contact with Their Birth Parents I , 2001 .

[12]  F. Verhulst,et al.  Continuity and change of psychopathology from childhood into adulthood: a 14-year follow-up study. , 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[13]  K. O. Brandon,et al.  Psychological adjustment in adult adoptees: assessment of distress, depression, and anger. , 2000, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[14]  Harold D. Grotevant,et al.  Coming to Terms with Adoption: The Construction of Identity from Adolescence into Adulthood , 1997 .

[15]  Karen R. March.  Perception of Adoption as Social Stigma: Motivation for Search and Reunion. , 1995 .

[16]  F. Verhulst,et al.  Developmental course of problem behaviors in adolescent adoptees. , 1995, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[17]  M. Althaus,et al.  Damaging backgrounds: later adjustment of international adoptees. , 1992, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[18]  Alison Grace Handel.  Growing up Adopted , 1992 .

[19]  R. Henig,et al.  Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self , 1992 .

[20]  T. Achenbach.  Manual for the child behavior checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile , 1991 .

[21]  M. Humphrey,et al.  Damaged identity and the search for kinship in adult adoptees. , 1989, The British journal of medical psychology.

[22]  K. Schilling,et al.  Adoption through the eyes of adult adoptees. , 1985, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[23]  Aumend Sa,et al.  Self-concept and attitudes toward adoption: a comparison of searching and nonsearching adult adoptees. , 1984 .

[24]  M. P. Sobol,et al.  A Sociopsychological Investigation of Adult Adoptees' Search for Birth Parents. , 1983 .

[25]  B. Settles,et al.  Family Relations: Journal of Applied Family and Child Studies , 1980 .

[26]  F. Verhulst,et al.  Social functioning of young adult intercountry adoptees compared to nonadoptees , 2005, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[27]  P. Selman.  Intercountry adoption: developments, trends and perspectives , 2000 .

[28]  Tovah Lichtenstein.  To Tell or Not to Tell: Factors Affecting Adoptees' Telling Their Adoptive Parents about Their Search. , 1996 .

[29]  Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg.  Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption , 1994 .

[30]  P. Sachdev.  Adoption Reunion and After: A Study of the Search Process and Experience of Adoptees. , 1992 .

[31]  T. Achenbach.  Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 profile , 1991 .

[32]  D. Brodzinsky,et al.  The Psychology of adoption , 1990 .

[33]  M. Althaus,et al.  Problem behavior in international adoptees: I. An epidemiological study. , 1990, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[34]  D. Brodzinsky.  A stress and coping model of adoption adjustment. , 1990 .

[35]  M. D. Schechter,et al.  The meaning of the search. , 1990 .

[36]  R. S. Andersen.  The Nature of Adoptee Search: Adventure, Cure, or Growth?. , 1989 .

[37]  D. Brodzinsky.  Adjustment to adoption: A psychosocial perspective , 1987 .