Family interactions in adoptive compared to nonadoptive families.

Despite the large and growing numbers of adoptive families, little research describes interactions in families with adopted adolescents. Yet, adopted adolescents' increased risk for adjustment problems, combined with the association between family interactions and adolescent adjustment in nonadoptive families, raises questions about differences in adoptive and nonadoptive family interactions. We compared observed and self-reported family interactions between 284 adoptive and 208 nonadoptive families and within 123 families with 1 adopted and 1 nonadopted adolescent. Adolescents averaged 14.9 years of age. Comparisons were made using analysis of variance incorporating hierarchical linear methods in SAS PROC MIXED to control family-related correlations in the data. Parents and children reported more conflict in adoptive families when compared with nonadoptive families. Families with 1 adopted and 1 nonadopted adolescent reported more conflict between parents and adopted adolescents. Observed parental behavior was similar across adoptive and nonadoptive children although adopted adolescents were less warm and, in families with 2 adopted children, more conflictual than nonadopted adolescents. These findings suggest a need for further investigation of the association between family interactions and adopted adolescent problem behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality resemblance in adoptive families: A 10-year follow-up.

Children from 181 of the 300 families of the Texas Adoption Project were recontacted after a 10-year interval, at an average age of 17. They completed two standard personality tests, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), plus a life events questionnaire and were rated by a parent on 24 bipolar trait scales. MMPI and 16PF scores were available from the earlier study for the adoptive parents, and MMPIs were available from the agency files for many of the adopted children's birth mothers. Parent–child correlations and regressions, sibling correlations, and comparison of the means of adopted and biological children were interpreted as indicating a modest genetic influence on personality traits (narrow-sense heritability, uncorrected, of about .25), a near-zero influence of shared family environmental factors, and a substantial contribution of idiosyncratic environment. The relative emotional and social adjustment of the biological and the adopted children had shifted since the time of the first study, to the detriment of the adopted children, but most still fell in the normal range. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contact in adoption and adoptive identity formation: The mediating role of family conversation.

The present study examined adoption-related family conversation as a mediator of the association between adoptive parents' facilitation of contact with birth relatives and adolescent adoptive identity formation. The sample consisted of 184 adoptive families. Data were collected in two waves from adoptive mothers and fathers, and adoptees (M = 15.68 years at adolescence; M = 24.95 years at emerging adulthood) using semistructured interviews and questionnaires. Structural equation models showed a good fit to sample data, and analyses supported the hypothesized mediation model. Contact with birth relatives is associated with more frequent adoption-related family conversation, which in turn is associated with the development of adoptive identity. These results highlight the importance of supporting activities such as contact that lead to adoption-related family conversation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality resemblances in adoptive families when the children are late-adolescent or adult.

Members of 220 families who had adopted children at least 14 yrs previously completed the California Psychological Inventory and Thurstone Temperament Schedule to investigate personality resemblances among adoptees and their adoptive families. Adopted children were in late adolescence or adulthood. Results show that, consistent with other recent adoption studies, there was little resemblance between parents and adopted children or between adopted and natural siblings. The presence of a biological relationship raised correlations slightly, suggesting that much of the explanation for personality variation lies in within-family environmental variation or nonadditive genetic effects. It is noted that, in previous research, young adopted children were better adjusted on the average than biological children in the same families; however, this was no longer true for the late adolescents and young adults of the present study. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The behavioral development of Korean children in institutional care and international adoptive families.

In this study, the authors compared the behavioral development of 4- to 8-year-old South Korean children placed in institutional care (n = 230) or adopted internationally (n = 382), with age of entry, parental status, reason for institutionalization, and postinstitutionalization parental contact as risk factors for institutionalized children. There was a placement effect of adoption and support for age of entry and parental status as risk factors. Relinquished children institutionalized before age 2 fared the poorest across groups. Children institutionalized after age 2 with deceased/unknown parents fared best among institutionalized children. Institutionalization due to family disruption was a risk for relinquished children only, whereas parental contact did not increase the risk for behavioral problems. The unique sample population and other limitations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality resemblance among adolescents and their parents in biologically related and adoptive families.

Studied 120 biologically related families with 234 children aged 16–22 yrs and 115 adoptive families with 194 children in the same age range. Ss were assessed for introversion–extroversion and neuroticism, measured with the Differential Personality Questionnaire, Eysenck Personality Inventory, and Activity Preference Questionnaire. The modest degree of personality resemblance among biological relatives exceeded the minimal similarities of adopted relatives. The estimated heritabilities for the personality measures were much lower than those obtained in studies of identical and fraternal twins, which suggests that twin studies have exaggerated the degree of genetic variation in personality. The results indicate that most of the variance in personality measures is due to individual differences among siblings within the same families. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bridging the divide: Openness in adoption and postadoption psychosocial adjustment among birth and adoptive parents.

Using 323 matched parties of birth mothers and adoptive parents, this study examined the association between the degree of adoption openness (e.g., contact and knowledge between parties) and birth and adoptive parents' postadoption adjustment shortly after the adoption placement (6 to 9 months). Data from birth fathers (N = 112), an understudied sample, were also explored. Openness was assessed by multiple informants. Results indicated that openness was significantly related to satisfaction with adoption process among adoptive parents and birth mothers. Increased openness was positively associated with birth mothers' postplacement adjustment, as indexed by birth mothers' self-reports and the interviewers' impression of birth mothers' adjustment. Birth fathers' report of openness was associated with their greater satisfaction with the adoption process and better postadoption adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuing the dialogue about fathers and families.

Responds to comments by J. McDonagh, D. Popenoe, M. Daly and M. Wilson, D. T. Lykken, and D. Blankenhorn (see records 2000-15774-013, 2000-15774-014, 2000-15774-015, 2000-15774-017, and 2000-15774-018, respectively) concerning the L. B. Silverstein and C. F. Auerbach (see record 1999-05337-001) examination of the essentialist perspective on fathering, family structure, and child development. Silverstein and Auerbach believe that data can only be observed and interpreted from the point of view of the researcher's values. From their perspective, the empirical research has shown that there are many different family structures within which child development can flourish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental illness in the biological and adoptive families of adopted individuals who have become schizophrenic

Early asthmatic responses (EAR) of similar severity were produced by allergen inhalation challenges in nine asthmatic subjects. The severity of the airways allergic reaction was estimated by measuring the skin test weal size produced by the same dilution of allergen which caused the EAR. The non-specific bronchial reactivity was assessed by inhalation of incresing concentrations of histamine acid phosphate. Possible relationships between the severtiy of the airways allergic reaction, the level of non-specific bronchial hyper-reactivity and the pattern of asthmatic response were examined. There was a marked inverse correlation between the required severity of the airways allergic reaction and the non-specific bronchial reactivity (log10) of the individual (r = -0-96, P less than 0-001). The EAR was followed by a late asthmatic response (LAR) in five subjects. There was no evident correlation between the magnitude of the EAR and that of the LAR. In addition, no correlation was obtained between the pattern of response interms of EAR or LAR and the severity of the allergic reaction, or the level of non-specific bronchial reactivity. These results indicate that the allergic reaction and the non-specific bronchial reactivity are interrelated in the production of allergen-induced asthma. Thus a mild allergic reaction will induce and EAR in patients with markedly increased non-specific bronchial reactivity, whereas a severe allergic reaction is required to produce an EAR in those with only slightly increased non-specific reactivity. The lack of correlation between the occurrence of the LAR and the intensity of the airways allergic reaction, the non-specific bronchial reactivity and the intensity of the EAR indicates that other factors are involved in the development of LAR.     

Infant communicative development: Evidence from adoptive and biological families for genetic and environmental influences on rate differences.

Parent/infant relationships were investigated in 50 biological families selected to provide a control group for a previous adoption study by the 1st author and colleagues (1981) of rate differences in communicative development in infancy. Measures of infant communicative competence, adult cognitive abilities, and aspects of the home environment were constructed and evaluated for both control and adoptive groups (including the birth mothers of the infant adoptees). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development was also administered. The addition of the control infants and families to the overall adoption design permitted testing of a number of genetic and environmental relationships previously documented between birth parents and adoptees and between adoptive parents and adoptees. Path analyses incorporating all 100 control and adopted 1-yr-olds confirmed that parental general intelligence is moderately predictive of rate of infant communicative development and that this relationship is due to shared genetic influence. Although few relationships with the home environment were documented within either group, data suggest that parental imitation of infant vocalizations may represent a direct environmental influence unconfounded by shared genetic variance. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early intervention in adoptive families: supporting maternal sensitive responsiveness, infant-mother attachment, and infant competence

Results from adoption studies suggest that adoptive families may experience special impediments with respect to the developmental progress and outcome of their children. Based on attachment theory, two early intervention programs were designed to support families in the Netherlands with an internationally adopted child. The intervention aimed at promoting maternal sensitive responsiveness, secure infant-mother attachment relationships, and infant exploratory competence. Ninety families with an interracially adopted infant (71 from Sri Lanka and 19 from Korea) were assigned to either a control group or one of two intervention groups. All of the children, 44 boys and 46 girls, were placed for adoption under the age of 5 months (M = 8 weeks). The first intervention group (N = 30) received a personal book, which focused on sensitive parenting. The second intervention group (N = 30) was provided with the same book as well as with three video-feedback sessions at their home. The control group (N = 30) did not receive intervention. In the control group sensitive responsiveness and security of attachment were comparable to outcomes from normative samples. The least intensive program, the personal book, did not bring about change in mothers or infants. In contrast, intervention effects were established upon maternal sensitive responsiveness, infant competence, and infant-mother attachment in the group that received both the book and video feedback.     

The precaution adoption process.

Presents a critique of current models of preventive health behavior and discusses a variety of factors, including the appearance of costs and benefits over time, the role of cues to action, the problem of competing life demands, and the ways that actual decision behavior differs from the rational ideal implicit in expectancy-value and utility theories. The framework of a model that is able to accommodate these additional factors is described. This alternative model portrays the precaution adoption process as an orderly sequence of qualitatively different cognitive stages. It emphasizes the development over time of the beliefs and intentions that lead to action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

浅谈钢铁联合企业节能措施

提出钢铁联合企业节能的措施,着重论述几种钢厂能源回收利用装置的工艺特点和供电系统节能措施。     

Facilitated Learning in Connected Discourse.

The purpose of the research was to test the prediction that nonspecific facilitated learning of a second prose passage occurs in the situation in which an initial passage read by the subjects contained concrete referents designed to increase the comprehension of a difficult to understand second passage. Two hundred forty subjects distributed equally in 12 groups read either two successive experimental passages or a control passage followed by an experimental passage and then recalled all of the information they could from the second passage. The results offered substantial support for the prediction and contain implications for enhancing the learning of educational materials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' academic gender stereotypes and education-related beliefs about sons and daughters in African American families.

The role of African American mothers' academic gender stereotype endorsement in shaping achievement-related expectations for and perceptions of their own children was examined. Mothers (N = 334) of 7th and 8th graders completed measures of expectations for their children's future educational attainment, perceptions of their children's academic competence, and academic gender stereotypes. Consistent with hypotheses, mothers held less favorable expectations for sons and perceived sons to be less academically competent than daughters. In addition, mothers reported stereotypes favoring girls over boys in academic domains; stereotype endorsement, in turn, was related to mothers' educational expectations for and beliefs about the academic competence of their own children, even with youths' actual achievement controlled. Negative stereotypes about the academic abilities of African American boys may create a negative feedback loop, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the gender gap in African Americans' educational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalytic perspectives on adoption and ambivalence.

Examines childhood adoption from a psychoanalytic perspective and suggests that particular elements of the psychopathology that is sometimes associated with adoption are simply special instances of some general phenomena that pertain to all parent–child relationships. Data are presented from history, mythology, and literature to show that all children and all parents, whether their relationships are adoptive or biological, must come to terms with warring feelings of love and hate toward one another. It is this ambivalence that lies at the center of the myth of Oedipus; although Freud chose to emphasize Oedipus's ambivalence toward his parents, the cycle began with Oedipus's parents. Parental ambivalence is an essential contributor to both the myth and the intrapsychic phenomena that are called oedipal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational adoption of preemployment drug testing.

This study explored the adoption of preemployment drug testing by 360 organizations. Survival models were developed that included internal organizational and labor market factors hypothesized to affect the likelihood of adoption of drug testing. Also considered was another set of variables that included social and political variables based on institutional theory. An event history analysis using Cox regressions indicated that both internal organizational and environmental variables predicted adoption of drug testing. Results indicate that the higher the proportion of drug testers in the worksite's industry, the more likely it would be to adopt drug testing. Also, the extent to which an organization uses an internal labor market, voluntary turnover rate, and the extent to which management perceives drugs to be a problem were related to likelihood of adoption of drug testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

IQ, race, and adoption.

Argues that the genetic and social variables were so confounded in S. Scarr and R. A. Weinberg's (see record 1977-07996-001) article on Black children adopted by White families that the results are consistent with virtually any theory of race differences in IQ. It is difficult to see any scientific or applied value in transracial adoption studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-gender effect in two-child families.

Describes an experiment involving 20 2-parent 2-child families with a child of each gender, 10 with the older child a boy and 10 with the older child a girl. The families were videotaped in a standardized situation, and the amount of time spent in various interactive behaviors was recorded for each parent–child dyad. A multivariate ANOVA revealed differences between same-gender parent–child dyads and cross-gender parent–child dyads, with parents displaying less negative verbal behavior to the cross-gender child than to the same-gender child. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent-child relationships in stepparent families.

Compared college students' perceptions of parent–child relationships in stepfamilies with those in continuously intact families. 47 students from stepfamilies and 130 from intact families completed a parent–child relationship survey developed by M. A. Fine et al (see record 1984-01194-001). Results suggest that adult stepchildren perceived relationships with their noncustodial biological mothers and stepmothers less positively than adult children from intact families perceived relationships with their biological mothers. No significant differences were found between adult children's perceptions of father–child and stepfather–child relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)