Transracial adoptees in the media: 1986--1996.
Media reports of interviews with 93 adults transracially adopted as children were content analyzed (percentage agreement = 80%-100%, Cohen's kappas = .61-1.00). Most interviews (63%-88%) involved adoptees who were African American or biracial; in college, graduate school, or employed in professional or managerial occupations; 20-29 years old; and raised in the East or Midwest, with siblings who were the adoptive parents' biological children, other transracial adoptees, or a combination. Forty substantive themes were categorized as adoptive family relationships, direct outcomes, ethnicity and ethnic identification, general adoption issues, and racism experiences. Limitations of media-collected data and the influence of media reports on public opinion and public policies emphasize the importance of scientifically studying controversial phenomena such as transracial adoption.
Hollingsworth
Leslie Doty
LD
School of Social Work, University of Michigan, USA. lholling@umich.edu
D000300:Adoption / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends*; D011640:Public Policy; D035781:Siblings; D012933:Social Identification