at differs from the non-adoptee population in terms of self-esteem, depression, substance usage, and stress. The proposed study's central research problem will be to examine this proposition.
The purpose of this study is to investigate a new conceptual approach to understanding the therapeutic needs of adoptees, especially adoptees with substance usage and abuse difficulties. To date, the great bulk of research on adoptee populations has focused on genetic and biological contribution to substance use/abuse problems (Cloninger, 1987), rather than on the component of stress generated by being an adoptee instead of the biological offspring of parents. It is hoped that if this study's findings support the contention that adoptees differ from non-adoptees on measures of stress, depression, self-esteem, and substance usage, it will be an encouragement for more research effort aimed at investigating stress as a contributor to substance use and abuse in adoptee populations.
A secondary purpose of the study relates to genetic/biological contribution to substance use and abuse in adoptee populations. There are relatively clear findings showing that genetic and biological factors contribute to the development of substance abuse behavior (e.g. Cloninger, 1987; Cloninger, Sigvardsson, von Knorring & Bohman, 1988; Littrell, 1988). Less clear is the extent to which the stress of being adopted can be parcelled out of this contribution.
The secondary purpose of this study is to differentiate between contribution engendered by stress of being adopted and contribution engendered by a genetic component. This will be accomplished by comparing not only adoptees with non-adoptees on all dependent measures, but also comparing each group at two levels of genetic influence, namely the levels of positive genetic family history of substance abuse and negative genetic family history of substance abuse.
In order to accomplish the study's purposes...