Adoptive Mothers: Identity Agents on the Pathway to Adoptive Identity Formation

Abstract

The concept of identity agents provides a framework to examine adoptive mothers' responsibility to address children's dual connection to their birth and adoptive families. Adoptive mothers' identity agency was assessed using case analysis. Eight extensive interviews with four adoptive mothers were collected at Waves 1 and 2 of a longitudinal study. Adoptees' identity formation was measured at Waves 2 and 3. Adoptees were M = 6, 13, and 23 years of age at Waves 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Analysis revealed strategies that adoptive mothers purposefully employ during their children's childhood and adolescence to influence subsequent adoptive identity. Adoptive mothers who act as identity agents draw on their respective theories of identity formation to create opportunities to talk with their children about adoption.