Adoption studies Flashcards
What are adoption studies
Adoption studies look at the impact of nurture on children who are raised by parents who are not their biological parents.
Example of an adoption study
Heston 1966
Aim of Heston
- How many adopted children of biological mothers with schizophrenia would go on to develop schizophrenia themselves.
Sample of Heston
(procedure)
- sample consisted of adoptees born between 1915 and 1945 to schizophrenic mothers who were confined to a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. These children were adopted at birth due to their mothers’ schizophrenia. A matched control group of 50 adoptees, whose mothers were mentally healthy, was also included. The control group was matched for sex, type of placement (adoptive, foster, or institutional), and length of time in child care.
Methods used
(procedure)
The subjects were contacted by letter and invited to participate in a standardised interview, which included a general medical and environmental questionnaire to assess important psychosocial factors. The interviews were mainly conducted in the subjects’ homes. Afterward, the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) was administered. The information was evaluated by two psychiatrists independently and then reviewed by a third researcher. Each subject received a numerical score based on their psychosocial disability, using the Menninger Mental Health-Sickness Rating Scale.
Results of Heston
Of the 47 adults whose mothers had schizophrenia, 5 developed schizophrenia themselves, with 3 being chronically ill. This means 10% of the children of schizophrenic mothers developed schizophrenia, which is the expected rate if they had been raised by their biological mothers. None of the control group developed schizophrenia, suggesting that adoption itself did not contribute to the disorder. Diagnoses were made based on accepted standards, with all subjects being similarly diagnosed in psychiatric hospitals. The schizophrenic group consisted of one female and four males, three of whom were chronic patients hospitalised for several years, while the other two were on antipsychotic medication.
Conclusion
The results provided powerful evidence for the role of genes in schizophrenia. No evidence emerged from this study of any role at all for environmental factors in the development of schizophrenia.
Generalisability of adoption studies
P - low
E - Adopted children are often separated from their biological parents due to various circumstances, such as tragic events or being given up for adoption. This can result in a unique upbringing that is not reflective of the broader child population.
E - Psychologists like John Bowlby argue that early separation from the mother during a critical period in infancy can have long-lasting effects on a child’s development. If adopted children experience such separation, their experiences may differ significantly from children raised in more typical family environments, making them less representative of the general population.
Validity of adoption studies
P - Adoption studies may suffer from reduced validity due to confounding variables, particularly when it comes to matching children to adoptive families.
E - Adoption agencies often match children to adoptive families that are similar to their biological families in aspects like race, ethnicity, and socio-economic class.
E - This matching process makes it difficult to determine whether the children’s development is influenced more by their genetic background or the environment provided by the adoptive parents. By ensuring that adoptive families are similar to biological families, it reduces the ability to isolate the impact of upbringing alone, making it harder to draw clear conclusions about the role of environment versus genetics.
Applications of adoption studies
Adoption studies can tell us whether good parenting can correct bad genes. Children whose biological parents were drug addicts, alcoholics or criminals may get a “second chance” if they are adopted by families with healthy lifestyles and adoption studies tell us how likely this is. These studies also tell us how ordinary families might raise children not to repeat the mistakes they made, like turning to crime or underachieving at school.
Reliability of adoption studies
P - Adoption studies tend to have high reliability due to standardized methods.
E - These studies often use structured interviews, psychological assessments, and consistent diagnostic criteria, which helps ensure that the data collection process is reproducible.
E - The use of consistent methods across studies allows for the replication of results, which improves the reliability of the findings.
Counterpoint: However, there may still be variability in how adoptive
