No description available.

Dissertation (Ph.D.) -- The Institute for Clinical Social Work, 1997. / A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Institute of Clinical Social Work in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Thesis (DClinPsychol)-Salomons Centre. BLDSC no.DX220782.

Adoption has been seen as a good solution for providing each party involved in the traditional adoption (i.e. , young birth parents, infants, and infertile couples) with a positive outcome. Adoptions, however, are generally more complex and diverse than supposed. Variables such as age of placement, levels of abuse and neglect, and foster care have been shown to place adopted children at risk for later struggles and challenges. Research studying outcomes of adopted young adults and their formation of heterosexual relations has been very limited. Most adoption studies have focused their attention on young school-age or teenage children, or on adopted adults trying to find their biological parents. It has only been in the last few years that research has begun to focus attention on adopted youth and young adults and their transition to intimate relationships. This study uses data collected in Wave III by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The Add Health Wave III sample consisted of 15,170 young adults, of which 487 were verified as being adopted. Abuse and neglect were looked and in conjunction with adoption in order to identify potential confounds to explain potential adoption effects. Adopted and non-adopted groups were compared along with abused and neglected groups using standardized mean differences, t tests, logistic regression and polytomous logistic regression in order to detemine the effects of adoption and abuse and neglect on several heterosexual relationship outcome variables. The present study provides support for four conclusions about comparisons between adopted and non-adopted young adults' heterosexual relationships. First, adoption by itself has a small but significant effect upon sex and cohabitation variables, but has linle impact upon violence and sati sfaction in relationships. Second, the age at which a person is adopted seems to have little or no effect upon any of the sex, cohabitation, relationship violence, or satisfaction variables. Third, a history of abuse and neglect in childhood has a small but significant effect upon most sex and cohabitation variables, with a larger effect upon variables dealing with relationship violence and satisfaction. Fourth, the combination of adoption and abuse shows the largest effects on all intimate relationship variables. Findings indicate that adoption does not have as great an impact on relationship variables as theorized. Abuse and neglect seem to play a much larger role in negative heterosexual relationship outcomes.

The intent of this two-phase, sequential mixed methods study was to explore the effectiveness in disciplinary practices of adoptive parents with children who previously experienced dissolved or disrupted adoptions. The research question this study set out to answer was the following: What is the relationship, if any, between adoptive parents’ practices of discipline in adoptions following previous dissolved or disrupted adoptions and their child’s behavior, especially as it relates to improvement in behaviors? The design of the first and primary phase of the study was quantitative, a census, to gather data from the population. The data for this study were gathered through surveys completed by parents who have re-adopted a child who was previously involved in a dissolved or disrupted adoption. The participants primarily gained access to the survey by receiving an email with a link to the survey from the adoption agency or adoption service provider the family was associated with. The questions in the instrument that measured the frequency of negative behaviors in the first 90 days of placement, were subtracted case-wise from their matching counterparts in the most recent 90 days. For each survey completed, a mean difference for the entire scale of fifteen questions were determined and used as the continuous dependent variable in the statistical analysis. The independent variables included demographic information, history of the re-adopted child, and specific parental practices of discipline. ANOVA applied to parents’ perception of primary disciplinarian and an overall decrease in negative behaviors supported the existence of a significant relationship within the sample (p = 0.042). There was a significant decrease in negative behaviors when parents perceive both the mother and the father as the primary disciplinarians when compared to families where the mother alone was perceived to be responsible for discipline. Parents who had three or fewer biological children had the most significant decrease in overall behaviors between the time the child was adopted and the time the survey was taken, while parents who had four or more biological children had a slight increase in negative behaviors (p = 0.021). Children who experienced their dissolved or disrupted adoption at the age of eight or higher had a greater decrease in negative behaviors when compared with children who were seven or younger at the time their adoption ended in dissolution or disruption (p = 0.044). The following parental practices of discipline showed the greatest relationship with a decrease in the child’s negative behaviors when parents utilized the following practices of discipline in the first 90 days of placement: talking to the re-adopted child about their behavior (p = 0.000), yelling or raising of one’s voice (p = 0.008), utilizing between 7-9 types of discipline (p = 0.038). A qualitative research phase was conducted after completing the quantitative phase. The qualitative phase involved phone interviews with parental couples in order to assist in interpretation of quantitative data, elaborate on the actual practices of discipline utilized in the home, and provide greater substance and meaning to the quantitative phase. KEYWORDS: adoption, attachment, behavior, communication, corporal punishment, disruption, discipline, dissolution, failed adoption, foster care, lying, orphanage, parental discipline, parenting, physical aggression, punishment, raising voice, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), re-adopted, re-home, time out, verbal aggression, yelling.

No description available.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1991. / Bibliography: leaves 92-94.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Detroit, 1959. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [59]-61).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Colorado State University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

"The purpose of this study was to analyze data collected from a single child welfare unit of a Florida public welfare agency regarding the backgrounds and current problem areas of children under foster care. The analysis of these data was undertaken to determine the frequency of appearance for certain factors in the histories of children in foster care. A judgment was also made regarding the significance of the interrelationships between certain of the variables studied"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "May, 1958." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work." / Advisor: Douglass Brown, Professor Directing Study. / Includes bibliographical references.