Adoption studies

Question 1

What do adoption studies do?

Answer 1

• compare adopted children to their biological parents + to their adopted parents

Question 2

What is the aim behind adoption studies?

Answer 2

• an adopted child shares the same environment as their adoptive parents
• they share the same genes as their biological parents

Question 3

What did Mednick Et Al find out about adopted children?

Answer 3

• examined data on over 14,000 adopted sons in Denmark from 1924 to 1947
• found that sons were more likely to have a criminal record of a birth parent also had a record
• concordance rate of 20%
• supports a genetic explanation
• by contrast they found that a smaller proportion (14.7%) had criminal record if their adoptive parent had one

Question 4

What did Hutchings and Mednick find out about adopted children?

Answer 4

• they compared adoptees with + without criminal records
• found that adoptees with criminal records were more likely to have biological parents with criminal records than adoptees who did not have a criminal record

Question 5

Strengths of adoption studies

Answer 5

• they support genetic causes of crime - Mednick found that sons were more likely to have a criminal record (concordance of 20%), by contrast they found a smaller proportion (14.7%) had a criminal record if their adoptive parent had one.
• adoption studies overcome issues faced by twin studies - in twin studies, biologically identical twins are brought up in the same household - this makes it impossible to separate out the influence of genes from environment - however adoption studies, the children are exposed to a different environment from their biological family.

Question 6

Weaknesses of adoption studies