THE EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL-ADJUSTMENT OF UNITED-STATES ADOPTED ADOLESCENTS .1. AN OVERVIEW

An sample of adoptees in the adolescence (n = 4682) was compared to a matched control group of 4682 nonadoptees on nine factors of emotional and behavioral adjustment and three factors of family functioning. Ad optees showed small but consistently lower levels of adjustment on 9 o f the 12 scales. Adoptees showed significantly higher levels of prosoc ial behavior. Significant gender by adoption status interaction occurr ed on two factors: illicit drugs and antisocial behavior. Differences between adopted boys and nonadopted boys were greater than for adopted girls versus nonadopted girls. Race by adoption status showed signifi cant interaction for four factors: illicit drugs, negative emotionalit y, school adjustment, and parental nurturance. The effect of adoption status was smaller for Asian Americans than other ethnic groups. For C aucasians, small adoption effects occurred on these four factors and e ffect sizes tended to be larger for Hispanics, African Americans, and American Indians. These results replicate and expand those of previous studies which show small but consistent patterns of differences betwe en adoptees and nonadoptees.