YOU Were Adopted?!”

Microaggressions Toward Adolescent Adopted Individuals in Same-Race Families

Bibliographic Data

ID8914323
AuthorsKarin J Garber (University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA, corresponding author), Harold D Grotevant (0000-0001-5800-1522, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA)
Year2015
Volume43
Issue3
Pages435-462
Publication date2015-02-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Counseling Psychologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-0000 • E-ISSN: 1552-3861
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0011000014566471
OpenAlexW2152097823
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited27

This study delineated a microaggressions typology and corresponding intensity levels that occur to adopted adolescents. The microaggressions framework by Sue et al. was adapted to identify this adoptive microaggression typology. Interviews with 153 (males = 79, females = 74) non-Latino/a White adolescent adopted individuals in same-race families were analyzed. Thematic analysis was used to discover 16 themes: (a) Silence, (b) Overly Intrusive Questions, (c) Assumption of Bionormativity, (d) Recurring Confusion/Ignorance, (e) In-House Divisions, (f) Public “Outing,” (g) Using Adoption, (h) Questioning Authenticity, (i) Unacknowledged Identity Status, (j) Spokesperson for Adoption, (k) Adoptees as Nonnormative, (l) Sensitivity, (m) Negative Stereotypes about Birth parents, (n) Adoptees as Orphans, (o) Negative Societal Portrayal of Adoption, and (p) Other. Implications for theory and practice are provided

Aesthetics · Confusion · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Identity (music · Ignorance · Psychoanalysis · Qualitative research · Silence · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Typology · White (mutation · Anthropology · Child Welfare and Adoption · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender Studies · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology