Ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and psychological adjustment among transracially adopted and nonadopted ethnic minority adults

Abstract

Little is known on how transracial adoptees (TRA) navigate issues of race and ethnicity. Using Shared Fate Theory as a framework, this study was interested in the moderating role of adoption status among a group of ethnic minority adults in explaining the relationship between ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and mental health outcomes. Nonadopted (NA; n = 83) and TRA (n = 87) ethnic minorities responded to measures on ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and psychological outcomes administered online. TRA and NA ethnic minorities reported similar levels of ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and psychological outcomes (depression and self-esteem). Perceived discrimination was significantly associated with depression for both TRA and NA ethnic minorities. Ordinal Least Squares (OLS) regressions that were run for a moderated moderational analysis suggest that the protective role of ethnic socialization depended on adoption status. Among the different forms of ethnic socialization, cultural socialization and preparation for bias significantly buffered against the effects of perceived discrimination, but the effects were more pronounced for TRA than for NA ethnic minorities. Because NA and TRA ethnic minorities were similarly affected by discrimination, it suggests that being a TRA does not confer any additional risk when experiencing discrimination. Additionally, the study found that ethnic socialization may continue to serve a protective role against the effects of discrimination into adulthood for TRA, but less so for NA ethnic minorities. These results have policy implications regarding the role of parental ethnicity in adoption decisions as well as the importance of educating adopted parents about ethnic socialization for ethnic minority children. (PsycINFO Database Record