Developmental paths from parents' bicultural socialization beliefs to emerging adult depressive symptoms in Chinese American families.

Parents' socialization beliefs have implications for the psychological adjustment of their children through their parenting behaviors; however, such pathways have rarely been established among Chinese American families. The present study examined how Chinese American parents' goals for their children to take on bicultural values and behaviors (i.e., bicultural socialization beliefs) influenced their child's level of depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood through their parenting behaviors and the level of parent-child alienation. Data came from Waves 2 (adolescence) and 3 (emerging adulthood) of a longitudinal study of 444 Chinese American families. Mothers' reports of their bicultural socialization beliefs positively predicted adolescents' reports of mothers' autonomy-supporting behaviors and interdependence-focused shaming behaviors. In addition, there was a significant and negative indirect effect of mothers' bicultural socialization beliefs on emerging adult depressive symptoms through adolescents' reports of mothers' autonomy-supporting behaviors and emerging adults' reports of alienation to their parents. In contrast, there was a significant and positive indirect effect from fathers' reports of their bicultural socialization beliefs to emerging adult depressive symptoms, through emerging adults' reports of alienation only. Findings contribute to our understanding of bicultural processes in Chinese American families and establish that parents' beliefs have significant implications for the psychological adjustment of Chinese American youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Unsettled adoptive identity: Understanding relationship challenges in adopted adolescents' identity narratives.

Adopted adolescents create identity narratives conceptualizing their connections to their families of adoption and birth. Previous work with a sample of adoptive adolescents identified a sub-group who reported negative experiences regarding adoption as part of their navigating of adoptive identity processes (the "Unsettled" group). The current study examined interviews with adolescents in the "Unsettled" group to elucidate these negative experiences, specifically through identifying the relationship challenges linked to adoption. Participants included 30 adopted adolescents (18 females, 12 males) from a longitudinal study of adoptive families. All the adolescents (M age = 15.2 years) were domestically adopted in infancy by heterosexual couples who were the same race as the adolescents (29 White, 1 Mexican American). Thematic analysis revealed six themes reflecting adolescents' relationship challenges as related to adoption, both in terms of interpersonal interactions and how relational experiences influenced adolescents' thoughts and feelings of past, present, and future selves: (a) Negative experiences in relationships with adoptive family members, (b) Negative experiences in relationships with birth family members, (c) Difficulties in the adoptive kinship network, (d) Negative thoughts and feelings toward the self as an adopted person, (e) Negative views toward adoption as a form of building a family, and (f) Negative connections between adoption and future relationships. Multiple subthemes were also identified that built upon topics within the adoption and family systems literature, such as communication among family members, navigation of birth family contact, and adopted adolescents' perceptions of loss. Also identified were four profiles across themes. Implications for mental health providers and adoption professionals are discussed.

Birth Family Contact from Childhood to Adulthood: Adjustment and Adoption Outcomes in Adopted Young Adults.

Experiences of contact between adopted persons and birth family members have implications for psychological adjustment of adopted persons. The current study utilizes four contact trajectory groups, spanning from middle childhood to young adulthood and encompassing three aspects of birth family contact, in predicting psychological adjustment and adoption-related outcomes in adopted young adults. Data come from a longitudinal study of adoptive families in which adopted persons were domestically adopted in infancy by same-race parents in the United States. Adopted young adults in the group characterized by sustained high levels of contact and satisfaction with contact over time ('Extended Contact') displayed lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of psychological well-being than adopted persons in the group characterized by contact that increased over time but remained limited ('Limited Contact'). Generally, adopted persons within the group characterized by consistent lack of contact ('No Contact') and the group characterized by contact that was initially present but ended ('Stopped Contact') did not differ in distress and well-being from those in the 'Extended Contact' group. No group differences were found on adoption dynamics and identity, however young adults in the 'Extended Contact' group generally reported more positive relationships with their birth mothers than those in the other groups. Findings are discussed in the context of heterogeneity in contact experiences and implications for policy and practice.

Parents' adaptation from conflict: Bicultural socialization beliefs and acculturative family conflict in Chinese American families.

Many Chinese American parents desire for their children to take on both Chinese heritage and mainstream American values and behaviors, referred to as their bicultural socialization beliefs. Parents' development of such beliefs appears linked with parent-adolescent conflict concerning cultural values, yet the direction and temporal ordering of this relation is unclear. The present study aimed to resolve discrepancies in the literature through examining the bidirectional relations between Chinese American parents' bicultural socialization beliefs and the acculturative family conflict they experience with their children. Relations were examined across two developmental periods of the children: adolescence and emerging adulthood. Data came from a longitudinal study of 444 Chinese American families from the west coast of the United States. Mothers and fathers reported on their own bicultural socialization beliefs for their children. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents/emerging adults each reported on levels of acculturative family conflict within mother-adolescent and father-adolescent dyads. Higher levels of family conflict in adolescence consistently predicted greater increases in parents' desires for their children to be bicultural in emerging adulthood. Results have implications for interventions with Chinese American families and demonstrate Chinese American parents as capable of adapting and growing from challenging, culturally based interactions with their children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adoptive Parenting Cognitions: Acknowledgement of Differences as a Predictor of Adolescents' Attachment to Parents.

OBJECTIVE: Adoptive parents' acknowledgement of differences is defined as the propensity to think that adoptive and nonadoptive families are different in important ways. Few studies have examined the implications of such cognitions for the parent-child bond. DESIGN: Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the relation between adoptive parents' acknowledgement of differences and adolescents' later attachment to their parents in a sample of within-race domestic infant adoptions. Data from 189 adoptive families were drawn from two waves (middle childhood, adolescence) of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project, a longitudinal study of openness in adoption. RESULTS: Levels of acknowledgement of differences displayed by the adoptive mother and adoptive father during middle childhood positively predicted adopted adolescents' feelings of attachment towards the respective parent 8 years later. This relation depended on adopted adolescents' attitude toward adoption-related communication during middle childhood as well as the adoptive family's level of openness during middle childhood. CONCLUSIONS: Acknowledgement of differences in adoptive families has positive implications for the parent-child bond.

Ethical Considerations in Adoption Research: Navigating Confidentiality and Privacy Across the Adoption Kinship Network.

Adoption research often includes multiple members of the adoption network, each of whom has distinctive perspectives. Participants may include adopted individuals and their siblings as well as adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoption professionals. Due to these multiple informants and the sensitivity of the topics explored in adoption research, researchers encounter several unique ethical concerns when working with populations impacted by adoption. The current paper addresses confidentiality and privacy issues that arise when conducting adoption research. Examples from a longitudinal study on openness in adoption are provided to highlight strategies that can be used to address these issues.

Trajectories of birth family contact in domestic adoptions.

Emotional distance regulation theory (Broderick, 1993; Grotevant, 2009) guided this examination of the changes in family structure and process in adoptive kinship networks experiencing different arrangements of contact between birth and adoptive family members. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to reveal four trajectories of postadoption contact experienced between adoptive and birth family members in adoptive kinship networks of same-race, domestic infant adoptions. Data were drawn from the Minnesota Texas Adoption Research Project, a study of 190 adoptive families and 169 birth mothers followed across four longitudinal waves (middle childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, young adulthood). Three aspects of the birth family adoptive family relationship measured at four times were used to create the groups: frequency of contact between the adopted person and birth mother, satisfaction of the adopted person with the openness arrangements, and number of adoptive and birth family members involved in the contact. Four trajectory groups emerged: no contact (41.6% of sample), stopped contact (13.7%), limited contact (26.3%), and extended contact (18.4%). Group membership was validated by coders who matched interview transcripts with group descriptions at levels significantly above chance. Knowledge of trajectories will assist professionals providing postadoption services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Adoptive identity and adjustment from adolescence to emerging adulthood: A person-centered approach.

Adopted persons face special challenges in the development of identity, as aspects of their histories may be unknown, making it difficult to construct a coherent narrative linking past, present, and future. Extensive literature on adjustment outcomes for adopted persons indicates an elevated risk for adjustment problems. In this study, a low-risk sample of adopted youth is involved to examine, longitudinally, connections between adoptive identity and adjustment. Participants included 145 adopted youth who participated in Waves 2 (W2: adolescence: mean age = 15.7) and 3 (W3: emerging adulthood: mean age = 25.0) of a longitudinal study with a nationwide sample. Children were placed with same-race adoptive families (over 95% White) as infants through domestic private adoption agencies in the U.S. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors were assessed by the Youth Self Report (W2) and the Adult Self Report (W3). Adoptive identity was assessed by ratings of 6 dimensions coded from interviews which, using cluster analysis, revealed 4 adoptive identity subgroups: unexamined, limited, unsettled, and integrated. Factorial ANCOVA examined mean differences in W3 internalizing problems across identity clusters while controlling for W2 internalizing. The main effect for adoptive identity cluster was significant: F(3, 840.72) = 3.724, p = .011. Adopted adolescents in the unsettled group had significantly higher levels of internalizing problems in emerging adulthood than persons in the unexamined and limited categories. A similar ANCOVA for W3 externalizing behavior was not significant. Identity profiles high in negative affect may be at particular risk of increased levels of internalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record