Intercountry Adoption

Abstract

Abstract While the past several decades have witnessed an increase in the amount of research examining the ethnic identity and mental health of intercountry adoptees, this literature is still insufficient to guide the conceptualization and development of sense of ethnic pride to improve general well-being of intercountry adoptees. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of 241 Korean-born adolescent adoptees provide findings that a more positive parent-child relationship and a greater collective self-esteem acquired through parental support of ethnic socialization each predicts a greater subjective well-being of adopted children, suggesting that a negative sense of ethnic identity represents a vulnerability to psychosocial well-being. The implications of the study for practice and policy regarding adoptive parents raising their adoptees are discussed.