Exploring the attachment-related representational and emotional trajectory from late adoption to early adulthood: A longitudinal qualitative study

Exploring the attachment-related representational and emotional trajectory from late adoption to early adulthood: A longitudinal qualitative study

Katerina Nezi, Saul Hillman · Adoption & Fostering

A longitudinal qualitative study followed three women adopted later in childhood into early adulthood, using childhood story-stem narratives and later attachment interviews. The analysis described increasing emotional elaboration, conflictual parent representations followed by repair, tensions between dependence and independence, and appreciation of childhood experiences.

Limitations: Three cases cannot establish prevalence or typical trajectories. Findings depend on interpretive analysis across different developmental assessments. The research team and measures relate to earlier Anna Freud adoption work, but the abstract does not establish exact participant overlap. Publication relationship: this research was published by BAAF or in its Adoption & Fostering journal, now associated with CoramBAAF, an adoption-sector organisation. Publication does not establish that the organisation conducted the research; readers may take the institutional relationship into account.

Research type

Longitudinal qualitative study

Source reviewed

Abstract

Peer reviewed

Yes

Age group

Mixed