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Problems in Families That Adopt NATURE OF THE STUDY Statement of th

LeVine and Sallee (1987) have stated that existing research on adoption indicates that families that adopt have many problems that would have existed even if the adopted child had been a biological member of the family, but that these problems become more complex and intense due to adoption. Specifically, the authors present a psychosocial and psychodynamic perspective toward family life which suggests that in addition to standard family stresses and strain, the adopted child and his/her family experience stress associated with the adoption itself.

The stresses and strains associated with adoption are said to consist of five predictable stages or phases. These phases are:

(1) pre-awareness of the adoptive status.

(2) dim awareness of a special state.

(3) cognitive integration of biological and social differences.

(4) personal and identity crisis of the adopted adolescent. (5) concomitant acceptance of the biological and adoptive family.

The implications of LeVine and Sallee's thesis is that adoptees live lives that, all other conditions being equal, are inherently more stressful than the lives of non-adoptees. Regarding this implication, it needs to be noted that high levels of stress have been associated with a number of psychoemotional and behavior problems including depression (Barocas, Reichman & Schwebel, 1983) and substance abuse (Abadinsky, 1989; Milby, 1981). In addition, in their discussion of human development across the life-span, Papalia and Olds (1992) point out that at all ages, stress is associated with a debilitative effect on self-concept and self-esteem.

In other words, people living lives that in some way contain an extra burden of stress are at higher risk for low self-esteem, elevated levels of depression, and substance abuse problems. Since indications are that adoptees may experience more stressful lives, it seems reasonable to suggest that adoptees may constitute a population th...

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Problems in Families That Adopt NATURE OF THE STUDY Statement of th. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 01:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1704111.html