Is More Too Many?: Adjustment in Families with Adopted Children with Developmental Disabilities

We investigated the adjustment of differing sized adoptive families rearing children with developmental disabilities. Families of 5 or more children (large: n = 54) were compared with families of 4 or fewer children (conventional: n = 69) on a variety of demographic and outcome variables measuring f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Adoption quarterly 2000-09, Vol.4 (1), p.67-80
Main Authors: Glidden, Laraine Masters, Flaherty, Evelyn M., McGlone, Andrew P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Adopted Children
Adoption
Adoptive Parents
Comparative Analysis
depression
Depression (Psychology)
Developmental disabilities
Disabilities
Emotional Adjustment
Family Functioning
Family Relations
Family Size
Marital Adjustment
Marital Satisfaction
Mentally Retarded
Placement
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Summary:We investigated the adjustment of differing sized adoptive families rearing children with developmental disabilities. Families of 5 or more children (large: n = 54) were compared with families of 4 or fewer children (conventional: n = 69) on a variety of demographic and outcome variables measuring family strengths, family disharmony, marital adjustment, and adjustment to the adopted child. Analyses of covariance on the outcome variables demonstrated that parents of large families were functioning as well or better than parents of conventional-sized families. We concluded that adoption placement practice should not exhibit bias against the placement of multiple children with developmental disabilities in the same family.
ISSN:1092-6755
1544-452X
DOI:10.1300/J145v04n01_05