Adoption Flashcards
What is the purpose of adoption studies?
Adopted children are compared to their biological and adopted parents to see which has more influence- biology or the environment.
What is meant by nature vs nurture in adoption studies?
If a child is more similar to their biological parents than their adoptive parents in regards to criminality it would suggest a genetic factor is involved.- nature
If a child is more similar to their adoptive parents however it suggests environmental factors influence criminality- nurture
What was Mednick’s study on adoption?
Studies 14,000 adopted male children.
And found a high proportion of boys with criminal convictions had biological parents with criminal convictions too. There was a concordance rate of 20% compared with only 14.7% of boys who had a criminal record their adoptive parent also had one. Suggesting that there is a stronger link between genetics and criminality than environment and criminality. It’s more nature than nurture.
What are some evaluations of adoption studies?
Strength- the research was drawn from a large sample which adds reliability to the research conducted.
Limitation- ethical issues are concerned as some of the participants may have been exposed to psychological harm by finding out who their biological parents were or that they had committed crimes.
