Abstract
The experiences and the stories of adopted individuals cannot be understood apart from the social context that shapes them. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used as the aim of this study was to assess the impact of the adoption of dominant social discourse on adoptees. Four themes relating to the aims of the current research emerged from the data: (1) adoptees’ deviant construction of themselves, (2) experiences of invalidation and marginalization, (3) rationalization of adoption, and (4) adoption-related un-acknowledged losses. This study’s results show that participants’ individualized and/or societal distressing experiences can be considered within the context of minority stress. For clinical and counseling purposes it is important to understand whether these minority identities result in extra social stresses as a result of their social stigma.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Interview Questions
Question1: Tell me about you and your family-(the names of family members, their ages, and relationship to you).
Question 2: How do you define “adoption”?
Question 3: Do you discuss with others your adoption story?
Question 4. Do people ask you questions about being adopted?
Question 5: Has anyone ever asked you a question or made a comment about adoption that made you think he or she does not fully understand “adoption”?
Question 6: Can you share with me particular experiences you have encountered, positive or negative, that are solely related to being adopted?
Question 7: Are there any circumstances where you either did or would have liked to correct others’ notions about adoption?
Question 8. What do you think other people, in general, think about adoption? Question 9. Are there any other things you would like to share with me that we haven’t talked about?
Question 10. Do you know other individuals who may be interested in participating in this study?
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Grigoropoulos, I. Narrating Displacement Adoptees’ Challenges Due to Minority Stress. Journ Child Adol Trauma 15, 811–820 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00403-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00403-8