Psychological adjustment in adult adoptees: assessment of distress, depression, and anger.
Psychological adjustment was assessed in a sample of 525 female and 191 male adoptees. Analyses were conducted by gender; by search status, i.e., those who had never searched, those who were searching, and those who had made contact with their biological parents; and by history of mental health service utilization. Compared to normative data, the sample reported significantly higher levels of psychological maladjustment; only women adoptees scored higher on a scale measuring anger. Overall, adoptees' scores were elevated but did not approach levels typical of outpatient populations.
Cubito
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Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
Brandon
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D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory