Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Purpose: This presentation will report on a study of adopted adolescents relationships' with their adoptive parents. The goal of the study was to provide a greater understanding of how certain key social supports (friends, adoptive parents, significant others) may help to moderate the effects of stressors on their adoptive experience so that the adopted adolescents may develop stronger relationships with their adoptive parents. The three research questions asked: (1) Are there significant differences between adolescents who were adopted when older compared to adolescents who were adopted when younger in their reports of: stressors, personal factors; social supports; and perception of their relationship with adoptive parents? (2) Controlling for personal factors, are the stressors significant predictors of the adolescents' relationships with their adoptive parents? (3) Controlling for personal factors, does the social supports provided significantly buffer the effects of the stressor upon the adolescents' relationships with their adoptive parents?

Method: The sample includes 335 adopted adolescents and their adoptive parents. The questions obtained from the adolescent questionnaire included 7 parent-child relationship items as well as the 12 items from the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, et al., 1988). Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) was identified as the ideal choice for analyzing these data since the data were cluster-correlated due to a large number of surveys completed by adolescents who were living in the same home with one or more other adopted adolescents (n=71).

Results: The present study found that adolescents adopted when older had significantly more behavioral and educational needs than adolescents adopted when younger. Two of the social supports (family and significant others) were also found to be statistically significant. This is noteworthy since the common perception is that adolescents turn to their peers for support and this was not the observed behavior in this sample.

Implications: The various causes, buffers, and factors that affect an adopted adolescent's relationships with his/her adoptive parents may help interested parties involved in adoption to make a more informed decision at many points in the adoption process. Since family and significant others social supports were found to significantly impact the adopted adolescents' relationships with their adoptive parents, it is important to continue to ensure that adopted adolescents are provided the opportunity to talk with their adoptive parents, teachers, caseworkers, and any significant others in their lives about their experiences and stressors. Also, when comparing adolescents adopted when older to adolescents adopted when younger, all four personal factors were found to be significant. This continued to be the case in the GEE analyses whereby special educational needs and special behavioral needs were still found to be significant. Therefore, it would be beneficial to ensure that the appropriate supports are in place for the adopted adolescents and that adoptive parents are made aware of the special needs that these adopted adolescents may have at the time of adoption. Other implications for future research include utilizing comparison groups, examination of parent-child relationships across time, and further examination of personal factors and social supports.