FAMILY RACIAL SOCIALIZATION AND ECOLOGICAL COMPETENCE - LONGITUDINAL ASSESSMENTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEES

Ecological Competence was assessed longitudinally in 88 African-Americ an transracial adoptees (TRAs). Relations were examined among measures of Family Racial Socialization, Africentric, and Eurocentric Referenc e Group Orientations, transracial adoption stressors, and their effect s on psychological adjustment. Longitudinal path analyses assessed the relations among these constructs. Path analytic models indicated that in childhood (Time 1) Family Racial Socialization predicted neither A fricentric Reference Group Orientation (ARGO) nor Eurocentric Referenc e Group Orientation (ERGO); by adolescence (Time 2), Family Racial Soc ialization predicted ARGO but not ERGO. Both ARGO and ERGO contributed significantly to adjustment. Change models indicated that adjustment declined significantly over the 10 years. There were multiple determin ants of this decline. TRAs experienced difficulty becoming ecologicall y competent in both ARGO and ERGO. They displayed greater ERGO than AR GO. Discriminant function analyses based on the independent variables yielded hit rates of 71% at Time 1 and over 84% at Time 2 for classify ing the TRAs as adjusted or maladjusted.