NCJ Number
138103
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescence Psychiatry Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: (May 1992) Pages: 525-532
Date Published
1992
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study compares the demographic, clinical, and delinquency characteristics of samples of adopted and nonadopted juveniles.
Abstract
A total of 43 adopted juveniles (32 extrafamilial and 11 intrafamilial adoptions) were identified out of 3,280 juvenile delinquents. The adopted subjects were then compared with the demographically matched and offense matched nonadopted subjects. Demographic variables consisted of age, sex, race, sibship, living arrangement, and information on parents. Clinical variables consisted of histories of learning problems and psychiatric as well as substance abuse problems. Offense variables included number and kinds of offenses. Demographically, the adopted juveniles tended to come from higher income, more stable families; however, there were no significant differences between the adopted juveniles and nonadopted juveniles in terms of their offense characteristics and court dispositions. These findings are consistent with a minority of adoption studies that did not find any significant differences in the psychopathology of adoptees. Replication of this study on a larger number of adopted juveniles in different locales as well as prospective studies would provide additional tests for the hypotheses generated in this study. 2 tables and 57 references