The Experience of Adoption (2): The Association between Communicative Openness and Self-Esteem in Adoption

The Experience of Adoption (2): The Association between Communicative Openness and Self-Esteem in Adoption

Celia Beckett, Edmund Sonuga-Barke · Adoption & Fostering

Interviews with 47 UK infant adoptees and 133 Romanian adoptees at age 11 examined communication about adoption and self-esteem. Children who found adoption harder to discuss tended to have lower self-esteem or feel different from their families. Parents underestimated some children’s communication difficulties. Having an adopted Romanian sibling was associated with easier discussion.

Limitations: These associations do not establish that openness improves self-esteem. Parent and child accounts are distinct. Behavioural and cognitive difficulties also related to communication. Participants overlap with other ERA publications. Publisher metadata lists two authors, while the abstract credits a wider research team; author completeness requires further checking. An author affiliation identifies PACT, providing adoption support and intermediary services; the paper was published in the adoption-sector journal Adoption & Fostering. These relationships do not establish commissioning or bias and may be considered when interpreting the findings.

Research type

Longitudinal study

Source reviewed

Abstract

Peer reviewed

Yes

Age group

Children