An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale–Revised (TAPS-R) with Transracial Adoptive Parents

Background and Purpose: Over 362,000 children who were adopted by U.S. parents are under the age of 18 (The Bureau of Consular Affair, 2011).  Literature concerning the importance of cultural and racial socialization practices in transracial adoption strongly suggests the need for a reliable, valid, and practical instrument for empirical research. While such an instrument exists, the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale (TAPS) (Massatti, Vonk, & Gregoire, 2004), needs to be improved and updated. The TAPS-R was developed based on the items of the original TAPS and recent literature related to cultural competence and socialization practices. Thus, this study examined the factor structure of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale – Revised (TAPS-R) with a sample of internationally adoptive parents.

Method: Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey design. The survey was administered online from January to March 2012. The TAPS-R was administered as part of cultural and racial socialization study. A convenience online sample of international adoptive parents (N = 310) was recruited through parent support groups. The majority of the participants were mothers (90%) and Caucasian (95%) and 88% completed college or post-graduate degrees. The average age of the participants was 48.30 years (SD = 7.10).  The average income was approximately $134,000 (SD = 83,275).

Exploratory factor analysis identified and extracted an expected factor structure. The extraction method used was Principle Factors Analysis. The number of factors retained was decided based on existing literature, an examination of the produced eigenvalues, a scree plot, and parallel analysis (PA). Using oblique Promax rotation, the factors were then rotated to allow for correlated factors. Each item was examined and assigned to the factor on which it had the largest loading. Items that did not meet a cutoff point (≤.30) were not retained in the final structure.

Results: The exploratory factor analysis revealed a reduced 47-item form of the TAPS-R with a 4-factor underlying structure. The three factors Racial Awareness (10 items), Multicultural Planning (17 items), and Coping Skills (15 items) confirmed theoretical expectation (Vonk, 2001). A fourth factor, Integration (5 items) also emerged.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings suggest that the TAPS-R is a sound instrument that captures culturally sensitive parenting among international transracial adoptive parents. The results can contribute to literature related to cultural and racial socialization practices in transracial adoption. As this is an initial study of the TAPS-R, future study is needed to further establish its reliability, validity, and factor structure.