Is Early Experience Destiny? Review of Research on Long-Term Outcomes following International Adoption with Special Reference to the British Chinese Adoption Study
79% of participants from US, the remainder from “other Western countries.” Adopted from Korea (60%), Vietnam (23%), and elsewhere. Median age at adoption: 10 months (range: 1–156 months).
67% in orphanage care, 22% foster care, 5% multiple placements, and 5% other settings.
Mean age: 29 years, range: 18–44 years, and SD: 5.96.
Web-based survey including self-esteem measure (Rosenberg) and ethnic identity and cultural socialisation scales developed by the research team.
Statistical analysis, using path analysis models.
Most reported little cultural socialization and not growing up in areas “with neighbours who reflect my race.” Cultural socialisation and self-esteem both correlated positively with feelings of “belonging” within adoptive family and negatively with feelings of “marginality” in majority culture. Belonging and marginality mediated relationship between cultural socialisation and self-esteem.
26 women, 8 men. All adopted from Korea into white US families. 53% had Korean-born adoptive siblings. Recruited via Asian American university clubs and Int’l Korean Adoptee Gathering 2007. 34 adopted adults (23 interviews and 11 via online survey).
No information given about preadoption experiences, except in passing in vignettes from interview reports.
Mean age: 26 years, range: 18–40 years, and SD: 6.6.
Qualitative interviews/online survey: questions about intrusive interactions from strangers (e.g., excessive personal questions and being stared at when with adoptive family members) and dealing with race-based mistreatment.
Thematic analysis of interview data then survey data. Member-checking by sending initial research paper to participants.
Participants reported frustration and defensiveness as a result of obvious intrusions, such as strangers’ stares or comments about not being a “real” family, but also with excessive compliments (“Asian babies are so cute!”). Racist experiences included name-calling, appearance mocking, stereotyping, and physical attacks. Range of adoptive parents’ reactions described (defiance; using humour; displaying pride in family). Not all participants confided in parents.
Adopted from Korea () and other countries (). Gender distribution not given. (Interviews were also conducted with eight nonrelated adoptive parents; results not described here.)
No information given.
Range: 21–48 years (mean age and SD not given).
Semistructured interviews about experiences of race-based mistreatment, including discrimination and exclusion.
Thematic analysis based on “social-constructivist” concepts (i.e., emphasis on concepts such as “race” as relational and identities as fluid and negotiable).
Day-to-day experiences of discrimination described, such as being followed in shops or facing heavy scrutiny at border/customs controls in comparison to white Swedish peers. Also regularly facing questions about their family and origins. Participants’ views varied; some saw questions as “mere curiosity”; others felt regularly harassed.
Women adopted from South Korea () and Thailand (); all raised in Sweden.
Age at adoption ranged from a few months to 4 years; most () adopted within first year.
Range: 18–35 years; half the group were aged over 30 years.
Interviews focused on “experiences of degrading attitudes with probable relation to Asian appearance”; the perpetrators; subjective reactions and strategies for coping with such attitudes; communication about them.
Open coding based on grounded theory. Final categorisation agreed upon following extensive dialogue and discussion between the two authors.
Degrading attitudes were reported in relation to both Asian appearance and adoption, including comments about their perceived sexual availability/libido or general hostility expressed towards immigrants. Perpetrators came from all age groups, and events were reported as repeated experiences, not one-off events. These experiences provoked a wide range of feelings, from anger to sadness.
55 female, 11 male, and one unidentified. Korean American adopted adults recruited via adoption agencies, conferences, and snowballing. Described as generally highly educated (61% had completed undergraduate degree or higher).
Mean age at adoption 22 months (range: 0–195 months; SD: 29.46). 60% had one and 28% had two preadoption placements (proportion of orphanage versus other placements not specified).
Mean age: 27 years, range: 18–49 years, and SD: 6.6.
Survey included Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure [55] and open-ended questions about cultural socialisation in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, including adoptive parents’ strategies and participants’ own interest/effort.
Thematic analysis of qualitative responses. Resulting categories were then compared with MEIM scores to identify correlation between cultural socialisation and ethnic identity.
Factors that correlated positively with ethnic identity were living in multicultural community, racial awareness (developing an awareness of being part of racial minority group and an adopted person), and visiting Korea/searching for birth/foster family. Significant positive correlation between cultural activities during ages 18–21 years and ethnic identity. Increasing interest over time in “lived experience,” for example, visiting Korea and socialising with Korean people.
Age of participants at point of data reported in this paper.
