title: Transracial adoptees in the media: 1986--1996.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Michigan, USA. lholling@umich.edu
authors.forename: Leslie Doty
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Hollingsworth
mesh_terms: 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