The effects of adoption openness and type on the mental health, delinquency, and family relationships of adopted youth

ABSTRACT

Analyzing the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents, this study examines the impact of open adoption, demographics, and other factors on adopted children’s mental health, delinquent behavior, and family relationships. Specifically, we compare findings for youth in private and public (i.e., foster care) adoptions and identify key similarities and differences between predictors of children’s well-being across these two types of adoption. We find that youth in open foster care adoptions are more likely to receive an attachment disorder diagnosis than those in closed foster care adoptions but are also more likely to have family relationships characterized by trust and adoptive parents’ willingness to recommend adoption to others. Further, we find children in both public and private adoptions who are older at placement are more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder diagnoses. For children in private adoptions, no statistically significant predictors affected youths’ delinquency outcomes or family relationships, with the exception of parents of private adoptees in households characterized by lower levels of poverty indicating they would be more likely to recommend adoption to others. The implications of the key findings are discussed with regard to service provision for multiple types of adoptive families.

Acknowledgments

We extend our sincere appreciation to Dr. Larry Griffin for the invaluable feedback on an earlier draft of this article. In addition, we thank an anonymous reviewer for especially helpful suggestions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura E. Agnich

Laura E. Agnich is an assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at Georgia Southern University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on school violence, including bullying, mass violence, sexual assault and dating violence, and has been published in journals such as the Journal of School Violence, Journal of Crime and Justice, and Violence Against Women. Her current research projects focus on campus safety, victimization and drug use, and police responses to active shooter events.

April M. Schueths

April M. Schueths is an associate professor of sociology at Georgia Southern University. She received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Within the broad area of social stratification her research focuses on families and education. She is co-editor of Living Together, Living Apart: Mixed-Status Families and US Immigration Policy (2015). In addition, she has peer-reviewed articles published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Latino Studies, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Teaching in Higher Education.

Tiffany D. James

Tiffany D. James is Assistant Director of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received her M.A. in Sociology from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research primarily examines cognitive development and executive function within the field of developmental psychology. Her publications have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Developmental Science, and Child Development.

Jeffrey Klibert

Jeffrey Klibert is an Associate Professor of Psychology and the Associate Director of Clinical Training for Georgia Southern University’s Clinical Psychology doctoral program. He is also a licensed psychologist in the state of Georgia. His areas of study include suicide prevention, positive psychology, post-modern psychotherapy theories, and psychological assessment.