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Emotional Disturbance in Adopted Adolescents: Origins and Development

NCJ Number
117508
Author(s)
R G McRoy; H D Grotevant; L A Zurcher Jr
Date Published
1988
Length
212 pages
Annotation
This study identifies familial and other contextual factors associated with the placement of adopted children in residential treatment for emotional disorders during adolescence.
Abstract
Staff of residential treatment centers in Texas and Minnesota identified institutionalized children who had been adopted before the age of 2 and nonadopted children who were between the ages of 11 and 18. The availability sample of adopted children included 26 males and 24 females ranging in age from 11 to 17. The second availability sample (the control sample) consisted of 50 nonadopted adolescents in residential treatment and their families. Instruments were the parent interview, the child interview, the caseworker interview, the Quality-of-Marriage Index, and symptom identification. Issues examined from the data are factors predating the child's birth or adoption, the early adaptation of the child within the family, family relationships and their contexts, and peer relations. Information is also provided on the clinical issues involved in the study, including data on symptoms, diagnoses, prognosis, and treatment history of the children in the study. Three chapters address the adoption issues encountered by the children in the adoptive sample and in the Minnesota sample. Conclusions highlight theoretical and practice issues. 32 tables, 1 figure.