Browsing by Subject "family relationships"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Adoption and Emerging Adult-Mother Relationship Quality: Is There an Association?
    (2015-07) Walkner-Spaan, Amy
    Emerging adulthood is a developmental period in which family relationships are important, yet research provides evidence that adoptive families have lower relationship quality compared to their nonadoptive counterparts. Despite some support for a relationship between adoption and adoptee-adoptive mother relationships during emerging adulthood, no systematic investigation has occurred. Utilizing self-report and observational data from the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study, two studies employed hierarchical regression analyses to extend knowledge of the relationship between adoption and adoptee-adoptive mother relationships during emerging adulthood. Study 1 investigated the association between adoptee-reported adoption-related variables and the self-reported and observed relationships adoptees have with their adoptive mothers during emerging adulthood. Emerging adult adoptees who felt more positively about adoption had higher closeness and relationship quality and lower conflict with adoptive mothers. Additionally, transracial emerging adult adoptees were found to have lower conflict and higher relationship quality with adoptive mothers compared to inracial adoptees. Study 2 investigated the association between adoptive mother-reported adoption-related variables and the self-reported and observed relationships adoptive mothers have with their adopted children during emerging adulthood. Findings suggest that adoptive mothers' attitudes about adoption and adoption type (inracial vs. transracial) had little association with the relationships they had with their emerging adult adoptees.
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    Twice as Nice or Double Trouble: Examination of IVF Twins relative to IVF Singletons and their Families' Outcomes in Adolescence
    (2016-04) Anderson, Kayla
    The two presented studies examine outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF)-conceived twins relative to IVF singletons and their families in adolescence (Study 1: n = 194 families, Study 2: n = 192 families). Study 1 used nested ANCOVAs to examine differences in family environment and adolescent adjustment outcomes among 11 – 17 year-old IVF twins and IVF singletons and their families. Despite notable statistical power, there were no differences between adolescent-aged IVF twins and IVF singletons and their families. This suggests IVF twins and their families function well into adolescence. Study 2 tested two autoregressive path models that propose parental conformity expectations have differential effects on twins’ and singletons’ parent-adolescent relationship satisfaction, which indirectly accounts for relative changes in twins’ and singletons’ adjustment over time. Despite the developmental need for increased autonomy in adolescence, results indicate high conformity expectations play a positive role for adolescent-aged twins and their families. These studies suggest that, while adolescent IVF twins and IVF singletons and their families function well, research on singletons should not be universally applied to understand twins and their families.