Editing Adoption (section)

===Influences===

Family plays a vital role in identity formation. This is not only true in childhood but also in adolescence. Identity (gender/sexual/ethnic/religious/family) is still forming during adolescence and family holds a vital key to this.
The research seems to be unanimous; a stable, secure, loving, honest and supportive family in which all members feel safe to explore their identity is necessary for the formation of a sound identity. Transracial and [[International adoption|International]] adoptions are some factors that play a significant role in the identity construction of adoptees. Many tensions arise from relationships built between the adoptee(s) and their family. These include being "different" from the parent(s), developing a positive racial identity, and dealing with racial/ethnic discrimination.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Fern L.|last2=Mickelson|first2=Stacie|last3=Lopez Davila|first3=Mariana|title=Transracial Foster Care and Adoption: Issues and Realities|journal=New England Journal of Public Policy|date=22 September 2013|volume=25|issue=1|page=2|ref=88}}</ref> It has been found that multicultural and transnational youth tend to identify with their biological parents' culture of origin and ethnicity rather than their residing location, yet it is sometimes hard to balance an identity between the two because school environments tend to lack diversity and acknowledgment regarding such topics.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bauer|first1=Stephanie|last2=Loomis|first2=Colleen|last3=Akkari|first3=Abdeljalil|title=Intercultural immigrant youth identities in contexts of family, friends, and school|journal=Journal of Youth Studies|date=May 2012|volume=16|page=63|doi=10.1080/13676261.2012.693593|issue=1|s2cid=145615691}}</ref> These tensions also tend to create questions for the adoptee, as well as the family, to contemplate. Some common questions include what will happen if the family is more naïve to the ways of socially constructed life? Will tensions arise if this is the case? What if the very people that are supposed to be modeling a sound identity are in fact riddled with insecurities? Ginni Snodgrass answers these questions in the following way.
The secrecy in an adoptive family and the denial that the adoptive family is different builds dysfunction into it. "...&nbsp;social workers and insecure adoptive parents have structured a family relationship that is based on dishonesty, evasions and exploitation. To believe that good relationships will develop on such a foundation is psychologically unsound" (Lawrence). Secrecy erects barriers to forming a healthy identity.<ref>Snodgrass, Ginni D. Research and Studies on Adoptees. Statistics on the effects of Adoption. Appendix A. s.l. : George Fox University, 1998.</ref>

The research says that the dysfunction, untruths and evasiveness that can be present in adoptive families not only makes identity formation impossible, but also directly works against it. What effect on identity formation is present if the adoptee knows they are adopted but has no information about their biological parents? Silverstein and Kaplan's research states that adoptees lacking medical, genetic, religious, and historical information are plagued by questions such as "Who am I?" "Why was I born?" "What is my purpose?" This lack of identity may lead adoptees, particularly in adolescent years, to seek out ways to belong in a more extreme fashion than many of their non-adopted peers. Adolescent adoptees are overrepresented among those who join sub-cultures, run away, become pregnant, or totally reject their families.<ref>Kaplan, Deborah N Silverstein and Sharon. Lifelong Issues in A.</ref><ref>Adoption, and it's<!-- sic --> Associated Therapy Issues. A Literature Review discussing the impact of adoption on Self-worth, Identity and the Primary Relationships of the Adoptee and both the Biological and Adoptive Parents. Christine Peers 11/7/2012</ref>

Concerning developmental milestones, studies from the Colorado Adoption Project examined [[Heritability|genetic influences]] on adoptee maturation, concluding that cognitive abilities of adoptees reflect those of their adoptive parents in early childhood but show little similarity by adolescence, resembling instead those of their biological parents and to the same extent as peers in non-adoptive families.<ref name="Nature 1997"/>

Similar mechanisms appear to be at work in the physical development of adoptees. Danish and American researchers conducting studies on the genetic contribution to [[body mass index]] found correlations between an adoptee's weight class and his biological parents' BMI while finding no relationship with the adoptive family environment. Moreover, about one-half of inter-individual differences were due to individual non-shared influences.<ref name="The New England Journal of Medicine"/><ref name="International journal of obesity"/>

These differences in development appear to play out in the way young adoptees deal with major life events. In the case of parental divorce, adoptees have been found to respond differently from children who have not been adopted. While the general population experienced more behavioral problems, substance use, lower school achievement, and impaired social competence after parental divorce, the adoptee population appeared to be unaffected in terms of their outside relationships, specifically in their school or social abilities.<ref name="American Psychological Association"/>

The adoptee population does, however, seem to be more at risk for certain behavioral issues. Researchers from the University of Minnesota studied adolescents who had been adopted and found that adoptees were twice as likely as non-adopted people to develop [[oppositional defiant disorder]] (ODD) and [[attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]] (ADHD), with an 8% rate in the general population.<ref>Kaplan, Arline, [http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1367897 Psychiatric Times], 26 January 2009</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=July 2022}} Suicide risks were also significantly greater than the general population. Swedish researchers found both international and domestic adoptees undertook suicide at much higher rates than non-adopted peers; with international adoptees and female international adoptees, in particular, at highest risk.<ref>Annika von Borczyskowski, Suicidal behavior in national and international adult adoptees, [https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00127-005-0974-2 Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology] Volume 41, Number 2 / February, 2006</ref>

Nevertheless, work on adult adoptees has found that the additional risks faced by adoptees are largely confined to adolescence. Young adult adoptees were shown to be alike with adults from biological families and scored better than adults raised in alternative family types including single parent and step-families.<ref>William Feigelman, Comparisons with Persons Raised in Conventional Families, ''Marriage & Family Review'' 1540-9635, Volume 25, Issue 3, 1997, Pages 199&nbsp;– 223</ref> Moreover, while adult adoptees showed more variability than their non-adopted peers on a range of psychosocial measures, adult adoptees exhibited more similarities than differences with adults who had not been adopted.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Border | first1 = L. DiAnne | year = 2000 | title = Adult Adoptees and Their Friends | journal = [[Family Relations (journal)|Family Relations]] | volume = 49 | issue = 4| pages = 407–418 | jstor=585836 | doi=10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00407.x| url = http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/L_Borders_Adult_2000.pdf }}</ref> There have been many cases of remediation or the reversibility of early trauma. For example, in one of the earliest studies conducted, Professor Goldfarb in England concluded that some children adjust well socially and emotionally despite their negative experiences of institutional deprivation in early childhood.<ref>Goldfarb, W. (1955). Emotional and intellectual consequences of psychologic deprivation in infancy: A Re-evaluation. In P. Hoch & J. Zubin (Eds.), Psychopathology of Childhood (pp. 105–119). NY: Grune & Stratton.</ref> Other researchers also found that prolonged institutionalization does not necessarily lead to emotional problems or character defects in all children. This suggests that there will always be some children who fare well, who are resilient, regardless of their experiences in early childhood.<ref>Pringel, M. L., & Bossio, V. (1960). Early, prolonged separation and emotional adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37–48</ref> Furthermore, much of the research on psychological outcomes for adoptees draws from clinical populations. This suggests that conclusions such that adoptees are more likely to have behavioral problems such as ODD and ADHD may be biased. Since the proportion of adoptees that seek mental health treatment is small, psychological outcomes for adoptees compared to those for the general population are more similar than some researchers propose.<ref>Hamilton, L. (2012). Adoption. In Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Retrieved from http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724195425/http://www.sociologyencyclopedia.com/ |date=24 July 2008 }}</ref>

While adoption studies have shown that by adulthood the personalities of adopted siblings are little or no more similar than random pairs of strangers, the parenting style of adoptive parents may still play a role in the outcome of their adoptive children. Research has suggested that adoptive parents can have impacts on adoptees as well, several recent studies have shown that warm adoptive parenting can reduce behavioral problems of adopted children over time.<ref name="Paine" /><ref name="Reuben" />