D'Angelo, Nicole
Children Adopted from China: Cultural Socialization Practices, Parent-Child Relationship, and Social-Emotional Behaviour
Transracial adoption places the child with a family of a different ethnicity than their own. In the current study we qualitatively examine concerns associated with transracial adoption and investigate the relation between parent-child relationships and child social-emotional problems. Twenty-two adopted girls from China, 20 nonadopted Caucasian girls, and 23 nonadopted Chinese-Canadian girls, between 10-14 years, and their mothers were included. Thematic content analysis of interviews with adoptive mothers revealed that the transracial adoption experience had positive, negative, and neutral aspects. This included the parent-child relationship, the adopted child's view of their physical appearance, and the incorporation of cultural elements into the home. Quantitative analyses revealed no significant differences between the three groups on measures of parent-child relationship quality and child social-emotional functioning, which confirmed findings from the qualitative analysis. In the entire sample there were significant negative relations between quality of parent-child relationship and social-emotional functioning. These results suggest that early age of adoption may help decrease the likelihood of problematic parent-child relationships and social-emotional functioning in adopted children. It would be important to re-examine this question during adolescence when racial identity forms.
Author Keywords: Cultural Socialization, Developmental Psychology, Parent-Child Relationship, Social-Emotional Behaviour, Transracial Adoption