Adoption Studies

Question 1

what does adoption studies try to eliminate?

Answer 1

the effects of the environment

Question 2

how do they attempt to do this?

Answer 2

by looking at children who have been adopted and have therefore been raised by adopted parents where there is no genetic similarity

Question 3

Crowe (1972)

Answer 3

compared a group of adopted children whose biological mother had a criminal record, to a control group of adopted children whose biological mother did not have a criminal record

Question 4

his findings

Answer 4

he found that if a biological mother had a criminal record, 50% of the adopted children also had one by the time they were 18. but was only 5% in the control group had one.

Question 5

what does this suggest?

Answer 5

regardless of the changed environment, children seemed biologically predisposed to criminality