Emotionally Disturbed, Adopted Adolescents: Early Patterns of Family Adaptation
- 1 December 1988
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Family Process
- Vol. 27 (4) , 439-457
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1988.00439.x
Abstract
This article focuses on the development of compatibility or goodness-of-fit within adoptive families and on the possible contribution of such problems to emotional disturbance of adolescents. Subjects included 50 adopted adolescents in residential treatment (mean age = 14.96) and their families, and 50 nonadopted adolescents in treatment (mean age = 14.90) and their families. The child, both parents, and the child's caseworker were interviewed. Three distinctive interactional patterns presenting adaptational challenges are discussed: the family's adaptation to the child's hyperactivity, the family's adaptation to the child's avoidance of contact and cuddling from early infancy, and perceived incompatibility between the child's personality and the parents' style. Results are discussed in terms of behavioral and attributional contributions of both the child and parents to the development of compatibility. Implications for clinicians are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Behavioral Dynamics of Mutual Responsiveness in Early Face-to-Face Mother-Infant InteractionsChild Development, 1987
- Mother-Infant Attachment in Adoptive FamiliesChild Development, 1985
- Sibling Deidentification in the Clinic: Devil vs. AngelFamily Process, 1985
- Parental perceptions of child behavior problems, parenting self-esteem, and mothers' reported stress in younger and older hyperactive and normal children.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1983
- Toward an empirical subclassification of ?learning disabilities?: A psychophysiological comparison of ?hyperactive? and ?nonhyperactive? subgroupsJournal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1981
- The Role of Hyperactive and Aggressive Symptomatology in Predicting Adolescent Outcome Among Hyperactive ChildrenJournal of Pediatric Psychology, 1979
- The Reliability and Stability of Individual Differences in Infant-Mother AttachmentChild Development, 1978
- Attachment as an Organizational ConstructChild Development, 1977
- The Impact of the Social Milieu upon the Nature of Adoptees' Emotional DifficultiesJournal of Marriage and Family, 1975