The relationship between early maltreatment, later attachment, and self-esteem in older child adoptees

The Relationship Between Early Maltreatment, Later Attachment, and Self-Esteem in Older Child Adoptees By Mona Kumar April, 1997 This study examined the effects o f early maltreatment on later attachment and self-esteem in adolescent adoptees. Nine clinical older child adoptees with a history o f maltreatment were examined in relation to ten clinical and 15 non-clinical infant adoptees with no history o f maltreatment. Delayed removal from biological home suggested history o f maltreatment. Subjects currently receiving psychological services were classified as clinical, while those who had never received psychological services were classified as non-clinical. The Inventory o f Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA Armsden and Greenberg, 1987), and the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (RULS Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980) were used to obtain attachment information. Level o f self-esteem was assessed using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE Rosenberg, 1979). Early maltreatment did not predict poor attachment or low self-esteem, as evidenced by older child adoptees’ high scores on the respective measures. O f the three groups examined, clinical infant adoptees demonstrated the lowest levels o f self-esteem and attachment. Finally, self-esteem and attachment were found to be positively correlated in all three adoptive groups. Implications for parental and therapeutic roles in the amendment o f early maltreatment, resolution o f adoption-related issues and development o f attachment and self-esteem are discussed. Maltreatment and Attachment 1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EARLY MALTREATMENT, LATER ATTACHMENT, AND SELF-ESTEEM IN OLDER CHILD ADOPTEES History o f Adoption Adoption is defined as “the act o f establishing a person as parent to one who is not in fact or in law his (/her) child” (Brittanica, 1985, p. 105). Adoption may be distinguished from fostering by its characteristic o f permanency. That is, whereas the latter is a temporary placement o f the child with alternate caregivers, adoption is a permanent placement in which the child’s legal ties to his/her biological parents are severed. Historically, the main purpose o f adoption was to ensure continuity o f the male line in a particular family, usually for political, religious, or economic reasons. The adoptive parents, having failed to produce a son of their own, used adoption as a method o f procuring a male lineage. Thus the adoptees were always male, with the adoption often taking place in adulthood. The desire to continue one’s family line or secure rights to inheritance are no longer considered the primary motives for adoption. Today, the desire to create a parent-child relationship is the most frequently cited reason for adoption. Although traditionally adoptive parents have consisted o f yoimg, married, middleto upper-class couples who were unable to bear children of their own, these criteria for adoptive candidacy are being broadened in recent years. For instance, there is increasing acceptance o f wider age gaps between adopter and adoptee, low income families, families in which the mother is employed outside the home, single-parent families, and transracial and transreligious adoptions. Additionally, applicants now include individuals able to procreate but seeking an alternate form o f family building. These individuals opt for adoption rather than Maltreatment and Attachment 2 natural childbirth for various personal reasons, such as the desire to not contribute to the growing world population, or as an act o f compassion toward parentless children. Given these changing trends, there has been a resultant increase in the pool o f adoptive applicants. Adoptive parents have typically preferred to bring infant children rather than older children into their homes. The rationale is that by adopting an infant, one will be able to simulate, as much as possible, a biological parent-child relationship. Specifically, one will be able to experience the parenting of an infant, and impact on his/her early socialization. According to Kadushin (1970), in 1967, the median age o f children at the time of adoptive placement was 2.1 months. The practice o f infant adoption was very popular, whereas that o f older child adoption was not. Hence, the prospect o f adoption for individuals not placed in infancy was very grim. Although infants have remained the adoptee o f choice, since the mid 1970’s the resistance to adopting older children has begun to dissipate, and older adoptees, like their infant counterparts, are beginning to find Increasing acceptance in adoptive placement (Jewitt, 1978). This gradual broadening o f acceptance has been due, perhaps in large part, to the lack o f available infants in relation to prospective adoptive parents (Reitz & Watson, 1992). Another factor has been the growing number o f older couples that seek to adopt. These couples often prefer older children with whom there is a more proportionate age gap; the rationale being the anticipation o f a better goodness-of-fit between parents and child. The experiences o f parents adopting an older child, however, differ in many respects from those adopting an infant. Older child adoptees, in general, have experienced Maltreatment and Attachment 3 events and circumstances in their families o f origin unlike those that are experienced by infant adoptees in their adoptive homes. Older Child Adoptees For the purpose o f the present study, older child adoptees are defined as individuals who have been removed from their birth families at no earlier than 18 months o f age, and therefore, have spent a portion o f their early lives with their biological parent(s). The relevant demographic statistics, although obtained through an American study (Kadushin. 1970), are applicable to Canadian older child adoptions. The cohort o f older adoptees included in the present study were largely bom between 1976 and 1978, thus, only six to eight years after the completion o f Kadushin’s survey. Thus, the demographics surrounding adoption at this historical period would be appropriate to describe the subjects examined in the present study. According to Kadushin (1970), birth parents of older child adoptees are typically ill-prepared and ill-equipped to raise families. They have substantially less formal education than average adults, and tend to hold generally lower paying jobs. For example in I960, about 43% o f all white adults had completed high school, compared to only 9% o f the biological parents o f older child adoptees. Consequently, 82% of these biological fathers and 85% o f the biological mothers held occupations requiring minimal to no formal training. Many o f these families were living at or below the level o f poverty (Kadushin, 1970). Biological parents o f older child adoptees tend to have atypically large families. In 1962, 52% of these families had five or more children compared to 10.5% o f families in the general public (Kadushin, 1970). The biological families o f older child adoptees are Maltreatment and Attachment 4 more likely than those in the general population to live in substandard, overcrowded housing facilities. There tends to be a high incidence o f pathology in older child adoptees’ biological parents, including mental deficiency, mental illness, emotional instability, alcoholism, prostitution, and erratic work history. For example, 31% o f ± e mothers and 21% o f the fathers in Kadushin’s study were noted as emotionally unstable, and 20% o f the mothers and 47% o f the fathers were regarded as alcoholic. Furthermore, the biological parents o f older child adoptees tend to have experienced poor parenting and personal deprivation in their own upbringings. In Kadushin’s study, 28% o f this group evidenced such background histories. Finally, the marriages o f older child adoptee biological parents are more likely than those in the general population to be characterized by discord, arguing, instability, separations, and extramarital affairs. Older child adoptees typically receive less than adequate care in their families o f origin, and often are subjected to various forms o f abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional) and/or neglect (physical or emotional). Physical neglect, according to Kadushin (1970), is defined as the inadequate provision o f food, clothing, health needs, or living conditions. Emotional neglect includes parenting that is characterized by indifference a lack o f affection, recognition, encouragement, and approval o f the child. In general, older child adoptees are deprived by their biological parents o f the type o f parental relationship considered necessary for secure attachment and healthy emotional development. As a result o f their deprived life circumstances, biological families o f older child adoptees are often unable to adequately rear their children. This situation generally results in one o f two outcomes. In some cases, the biological parents realize that they are unable to provide sufficient care for their child and so relinquish him/her to foster care. More Maltreatment and Attachment 5 often, however, the child is legally removed by authorities that have been made aware o f the ongoing abuse and/or neglect and the child is then rendered to foster care. In some cases, these biological parents will attempt to better their parenting skills and living situation in order to regain custody o f their child. In other cases, however, the parents are either unable or unwilling to prove themselves to be fit parents and hence eventually lose their parental rights. Their children must then remain in foster care until a permanent adoptive placement can be found. For some older child adoptees, particularly those who have incurred early maltreatment, the interim between removal from biological family and placement with adoptive family may last several years and include several foster placements (Reitz & Watson, 1992). Once a permanent placement is found, there is usually a pro