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Dissertation
Interpersonal issues of nonhospitalized adult adoptees: the influence of age at time of adoption on the perception of relationships
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Allegheny University of the Health Sciences
Feb 1998
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00009897
Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the role of age at adoption in nonhospitalized adult adoptees on several measures of interpersonal relating and psychological functioning. Two groups of adult adoptees, those adopted before the age of 6 months (n = 50) and those adopted after the age of 1 year (n = 49), were utilized. Subjects ranged in age from 25 to 67 years old. It was first hypothesized that on a measure of interpersonal relatedness, the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (BORRTI), those adoptees adopted before the age of 6 months would have more adaptive or flexible views of others than those adopted after the age of 1 year. Adoptees adopted after 1 year may have experienced more adverse early attachment histories, which then may lead to less flexible or developed perceptions of relationships as adults. A one-way MANOVA revealed that the two groups of adoptees were significantly different on two of the four subscales of the BORRTI. On both the Alienation and Egocentricity subscales of the BORRTI, the adopted-after-1-year-group demonstrated less flexible and less developed object relations functioning than the adopted-before-6-months group. It was also hypothesized that the two adoptee groups would differ on two measures of attachment. Most of the analyses indicated a lack of differences on the attachment measures. Finally, it was hypothesized that on a measure of psychological distress, the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), that those adopted after 1 year would be more distressed than those adopted before 6 months. T-tests performed separately on the GSI for both males and females revealed that there were differences between the two adoptee groups only for the male adoptees, with the adopted after 1 year male adoptees reporting more psychological distress than those males adopted before 6 months. Research should be conducted to further examine the interpersonal repercussions of adoption with larger, more diverse samples of adoptees.
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Details
- Title
- Interpersonal issues of nonhospitalized adult adoptees
- Creators
- Michelle Duffine Kossar
- Awarding Institution
- Allegheny University of the Health Sciences
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Allegheny University of the Health Sciences; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- ix, 122 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (1996-1998); Clinical and Health Psychology [Historical]; School of Health Professions (1996-1998)
- Other Identifier
- 991021889012004721