IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v31y2009i3p398-404.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An empirical analysis of factors affecting adolescent attachment in adoptive families with homosexual and straight parents

Author

Listed:
  • Erich, Stephen
  • Kanenberg, Heather
  • Case, Kim
  • Allen, Theresa
  • Bogdanos, Takis

Abstract

Data were collected on 154 adoptive families with gay/lesbian and straight adoptive parents (154 parent respondents and 210 adolescent respondents). This study was principally interested in factors affecting adolescent attachment including parent sexual orientation, adolescent and parent life satisfaction, and parent level of relationship satisfaction with their adopted child as well as other key parent, child and adoption characteristics. The results suggest that higher level of adopted adolescent attachment to parents is not related to adoptive parent sexual orientation. Adolescent attachment to parents is related to adolescent life satisfaction; parent level of relationship satisfaction with their adopted child, number of placements prior to adoption, and adolescent's current age. Adolescent life satisfaction, like level of attachment is an indicator of youth well-being. This variable was found to have a significant relationship with parent level of relationship satisfaction with their adopted child. The results also indicated parent's level of relationship satisfaction with their adopted child was related to parent life satisfaction. The variable child's age at adoption was found to have significant relationships with parent life satisfaction, parent's level of relationship satisfaction with their adopted child, and number of placements prior to adoption. Implications for policy, practice, education and further research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Erich, Stephen & Kanenberg, Heather & Case, Kim & Allen, Theresa & Bogdanos, Takis, 2009. "An empirical analysis of factors affecting adolescent attachment in adoptive families with homosexual and straight parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 398-404, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:31:y:2009:i:3:p:398-404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190-7409(08)00232-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDonald, Thomas P. & Lieberman, Alice A. & Partridge, Susan & Hornby, Helaine, 1991. "Assessing the role of agency services in reducing adoption disruptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(5-6), pages 425-438.
    2. Leung, Patrick & Erich, Stephen & Kanenberg, Heather, 2005. "A comparison of family functioning in gay/lesbian, heterosexual and special needs adoptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1031-1044, September.
    3. Erich, Stephen & Leung, Patrick, 1998. "Factors contributing to family functioning of adoptive children with special needs: A long term outcome analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 135-150.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. McWey, Lenore M. & Acock, Alan & Porter, Breanne E., 2010. "The impact of continued contact with biological parents upon the mental health of children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1338-1345, October.
    2. Marianna Coppola & Giuseppe Masullo, 2020. "Adolescents and socialization to sexuality in same-sex families. Theoretical and methodological challenges," Academicus International Scientific Journal, Entrepreneurship Training Center Albania, issue 21, pages 115-130, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lightburn, Anita & Pine, Barbara A., 1996. "Supporting and enhancing the adoption of children with developmental disabilities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1-2), pages 139-162.
    2. Douglas Allen, 2013. "High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 635-658, December.
    3. Susana Mariscal, E. & Akin, Becci A. & Lieberman, Alice A. & Washington, DaKie, 2015. "Exploring the path from foster care to stable and lasting adoption: Perceptions of foster care alumni," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 111-120.
    4. Leung, Patrick & Erich, Stephen & Kanenberg, Heather, 2005. "A comparison of family functioning in gay/lesbian, heterosexual and special needs adoptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1031-1044, September.
    5. Frost, Reihonna L. & Goldberg, Abbie E., 2020. "“People said we were nuts … I understand what they were saying now”: An exploration of the transition to parenthood in sibling group adoption," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    6. Erich, Stephen & Leung, Patrick, 1998. "Factors contributing to family functioning of adoptive children with special needs: A long term outcome analysis," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 135-150.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:31:y:2009:i:3:p:398-404. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.