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Relative outcomes of parenting by biological and adoptive parents

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Research into relative outcomes of parenting by biological and adoptive parents has produced a variety of results. When socioeconomic differences between two-biological-parent and two-adoptive-parent households are controlled for, the two types of families tend to invest a similar amount of resources.[1] A 20-year longitudinal study of 245 adoptees placed in the first few months of life that compared the children's cognitive abilities with those of their birth and adoptive parents found that before age 5, the adoptees' cognitive skills correlated more with those in their adoptive families, but as the adoptees matured, their cognitive skills, including verbal ability, became more like those of their biological parents; thus, the study concluded that "environmental transmission from parent to offspring has little effect on later cognitive ability."[2] Adopted siblings have, on average, an IQ score 4.4 points higher than the siblings who are reared by their biological parents and 3.18 point increase for half-siblings reared by their biological parents.[3]

A study found that although parents did rate their adoptive children higher in negative traits and behaviors like arrogance and stealing, they scored both adopted and biological children similarly when it came to positive traits like conscientiousness and persistence.[4] A 2004 study found that after gaining a child (whether through birth or adoption), respondents reported less depressed affect, more disagreements with their spouse, and more support from their own parents, but it appeared the experience of becoming an adoptive parent or a stepparent was less stressful than the adjustment to biological parenthood.[5]

References

  1. ^ Hamilton, Laura (February 2007). "Adoptive Parents, Adaptive Parents: Evaluating the Importance of Biological Ties for Parental Investment" (PDF). American Sociological Review. 72: 95–116. doi:10.1177/000312240707200105.
  2. ^ Rhea SA, Bricker JB, Wadsworth SJ, Corley RP (February 2013). "The Colorado Adoption Project". Twin Res Hum Genet. 16 (1): 358–65. doi:10.1017/thg.2012.109. PMC 3817005. PMID 23158098.
  3. ^ Kenneth S. Kendler; Eric Turkheimer; Henrik Ohlsson; Jan Sundquiste; Kristina Sundquiste. "Family environment and the malleability of cognitive ability: A Swedish national home-reared and adopted-away cosibling control study". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (15): 4612–4617. doi:10.1073/pnas.1417106112. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |last-author-amp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Segal, Nancy L., Norman P. Li, Jamie L. Graham, Steven A. Miller (September 2015). "Do parents favor their adoptive or biological children? Predictions from kin selection and compensatory models". Evolution and Human Behavior. 36 (5): 379–388. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.03.001.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Rosario Ceballo, Jennifer E. Lansford , Antonia Abbey and Abigail J. Stewart (January 2004). "Gaining a Child: Comparing the Experiences of Biological Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Stepparents". Family Relations. 53 (1). National Council on Family Relations: 38–48. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2004.00007.x. JSTOR 3700236.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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