Till Sverige har det idag från utlandet adopterats ca 49 500 personer. Bland dessa personer har psykisk ohälsa och social problematik visat sig vara vanligt förekommande. I Folkhälsorapport 2009 uppmärksammas att barn som adopteras från länder utanför Europa vårdas två till tre gånger så ofta på sjukhus under ungdomsåren på grund av psykiatrisk sjuklighet, som ungdomar födda i Sverige. När det handlar om hälsa hos adopterade är det viktigt att beakta den speciella livssituation som det innebär att vara adopterad. Internationellt adopterade individer växer ofta upp i familjer med bättre socioekonomiska förhållanden, än den genomsnittliga ungdomen i Sverige. Trots det så talas det om en ökad sårbarhet hos adopterade. Avsikten med denna uppsats var att beskriva hur vuxna internationellt adopterade upplever sin hälsa, samt på vilket sätt de anser att situationen som adopterad påverkar hälsan. Intresset var att betrakta hälsa ur ett fysiskt, psykiskt och socialt perspektiv. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med tio vuxna informanter, adopterade från länder utanför Europa. Data analyserades med innehållsanalys, där det framkom olika teman. Dessa var: upplevd hälsostatus, faktorer som påverkar hälsan, samt: tankar kring hur situationen som adopterad påverkar hälsan. Av resultatet framgick att informanterna upplever sin hälsa som god. Faktorer som har inverkan på informanternas hälsa är bland annat kost, fysisk aktivitet, stressnivå och att ha goda sociala nätverk. Det förekom en medvetenhet hos informanterna om att situationen som adopterad kan bidra till ohälsa, även om de framhåller att det inte berör dem själva. Omständigheter kring att ha ett avvikande utseende framkom som den främsta orsaken till att situationen som adopterad påverkar den psykiska hälsan. / Today, Sweden has an estimated 49 500 adoptees from overseas. According to reports, many of these adoptees experience mental ill-health as well as social problems. The 2009 Public Health Report indicated that children adopted from countries outside Europe had two to three times higher risk of hospitalization during adolescence due to psychiatric morbidity as compared to those born in Sweden. International adoptees often grow up in families with better socioeconomic conditions, than the average youth in Sweden.  However, evidence shows that they experience increased vulnerability. The purpose of this study was to describe how adult international adoptees perceive their health and how they think the situation as an adoptee affect health. Qualitative interviews were conducted with ten informants who were adopted from countries outside Europe. Data were analyzed using content analysis, which revealed various themes (perceived health status; factors that affect health and thoughts how the situation as an adoptee affect health). Results showed that respondents perceived their health as good. Informants perceived health, including diet, physical activity, stress level and having good social networks as factors which had impact on their health and well being. Furthermore there was recognition by informants that the situation as an adoptee can contribute to ill health, although they stressed that it did not concern themselves. However, many referred that their appearance had a significant impact on their psychological well-being.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-68).

Parenthood is generally marked as a joyous event, though some research indicates that the birth of a child can possibly involve a difficult and complicated adjustment period for new parents (Ceballo, Lansford, Abbey, & Stewart, 2004). Questions regarding heritage and biological ties typically occur after developmental milestones, for example, births, marriages, and deaths, for adult adoptees. Horowitz (2011) offered that in order to understand the uniqueness of adoptees’ experiences and the specific needs they may have during childhood, it is vital to study the entire adoptee trajectory into adulthood, in order for adoptive parents and society to prepare successfully and launch adoptees into adulthood. This study explored how adult adoptees view parenthood through the lens of their own upbringing in Canada. There are gaps of information in the literature on how adoptees undertake parenting and how they approach becoming parents. In addition, how adoptees recognize themselves in their own children whether their children are adopted or not and how adoptees bond with their children. This study is an effort to address this gap offering recommendations for future research. Using an attachment theory framework while employing a mixed methods approach through an exploratory-sequential design, highlighted results include: adult adoptees struggle with identity issues and their adoption experiences do impacted the way they become parents and how they view themselves as parents.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Since the Korean War (1950‐1953), over 170,000 Korean children have been adopted from South Korea and dispersed across the world to families in ‘the West’. As Korean adoptees reach adulthood, many are going back to South Korea through their own initiatives to understand their ‘past’ and to try to identify with a part of themselves that feels ‘unknown’. This study considers the significance of these dual transnational movements for Korean adoptees’ identities. Based on their lived experiences, this dissertation explores the ways Korean adoptees make sense of their identities in their adoptive countries and in South Korea. Specifically, it draws on social scientific theories to focus on topics of ‘difference’, embodiment, experience and belonging. Another key aim of this study is to examine some of the conventional ideas about kinship and identity that are embedded in a Euro‐American construction of adoption. Through this analysis, issues associated with adoptees such as ‘loss’, ‘incomplete identities’ and ‘a need to search’ are alternatively considered to be socially and culturally derived rather than unproblematically viewed as individual problems. Overall, this is a qualitative anthropological study that engages with Korean adoptees’ lived experiences as they work to situate their identities within shifting socio‐cultural contexts. A central goal throughout the course of this research has been to generate greater understanding about the complex processes involved for transnationally adopted people as they try to negotiate their identities within contested spaces of belonging. This study concludes by looking at the significance of shared experiences and mutual understanding between adoptees and the impact this has on their sense of belonging.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-68).

xiv, 204 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The purpose of this study was to examine counselor trainees' perceptions of adopted clients and explore how trainee perceptions may vary according to counselor trainees' adoption-related knowledge, attitudes, and clinical skills. This study extends the limited body of research examining mental health professionals' potential bias related to adopted clients in their approach to treatment and case conceptualization. Counselor trainees (N = 430) read one of six client case study vignettes that were identical except for variations on client adoption status (adopted, transracially adopted, nonadopted) and client sex (male or female), resulting in six different stimuli conditions. Group differences were examined for two independent variables (client adoption status and client sex) and dependent variables measuring counselor trainees' perceptions of clients in four areas: (a) seriousness of treatment plan and prognosis, (b) assignment of favorable or unfavorable adjectives to clients, (c) counselor trainees' assessment of client level of functioning, and (d) diagnosis behavior. Preexisting counselor adoption knowledge, attitudes, and skills were assessed by the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills of Adoption Survey (KASAS) that was created and validated specifically for this study. Results of exploratory factor analyses on the KASAS revealed a cogent, three-factor structure for the measure with high factor internal consistency. The main study research questions were then addressed within the context of several univariate general linear models. Findings demonstrated that counselor trainees perceive adopted clients generally more negatively than nonadopted clients. Participants rated same-race adopted clients as lower functioning than nonadopted clients, reported having greater overall concern for adopted clients (both same-race and transracially adopted) in comparison with nonadopted clients, and rated adopted clients' problems as more severe than those of nonadopted clients despite being presented with otherwise identical presenting issues. Descriptive data revealed that 64% of trainees reported lack of preparation to deal with or no knowledge about adoption, and 89% reported wanting additional clinical training about adoption Implications for future research and practice are presented. / Committee in charge: Benedict McWhirter, Chairperson, Counseling Psychology and Human Services; Deanna Linville-Knobelspiesse, Member, Counseling Psychology and Human Services; Paul Yovanoff, Member, Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership; Ellen Herman, Outside Member, History

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Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-79).

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Recent studies have come to contradicting conclusions as to whether international adoptees, who experience a sudden change in language environment, lose or retain traces of their birth language (Pallier et al., 2003; Ventureyra, Pallier & Yoo, 2004; Pierce, Klein, Chen, Delcenserie, & Genesee, 2014). Though these studies have considered cortical differences between international adoptees and individuals from their birth counties, none has looked at subcortical differences in the brain between the two groups. The current project examined the frequency following response of adult Chinese international adoptees (N = 9) adopted as infants by American English-speaking families in the United States compared to native Mandarin (N = 21) and American English (N = 21) controls. Additional behavioral tasks were completed to explore different levels of linguistic features from phonetics to phonology to semantic knowledge to suprasegmental characteristics of speech. The FFR results indicate mostly good pitch tracking abilities amongst the adoptees that may support future tonal language learning in the adoptees. The behavioral data suggest that the adoptees have minimal access to all levels of linguistic levels of linguistic processing (i.e., phonetic, phonological, lexical, suprasegmental) after adoption and after early exposure to English. Overall, the data provide evidence for the neural commitment theory that humans’ language acquisition is attuned to their language environment early on in life.