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Just as I was getting on a role with this series, my electricity was sketchy and internet nearly nil for the past few days, and so … very sorry about the delay. In case you have forgotten where we were, this blog had the statistics comparing the mental health/adjustment/behavior of adoptees to the same for non-adoptees, while the blog before the one you are reading now had some random ‘findings’ from the multitude of studies I researched.

Now... more

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In addition to main statics, there were a few conclusions that popped up here and there that I either found hilarious or interesting or random or, even, some mixture of the three:

* In an 1987 study, adoptees found their mothers to be more autocratic than their non-adopted counterparts (ha HA! Just kidding, Mom)

* A study adding non-adoptees with single parents to the mix found, "Over 80 percent [of adoptees] had some formal qualifications by age 23, while just over 75 percent of the two-parent biological group had similar credentials,... more

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I kept statistical count of the conclusions in my random sampling of studies (and I do mean random: not alphabetical, not chronological, not skewed this way or that, just reading everything there was on the topic until my eyes nearly fell out.) Here are the patterns that I found:

75.6% of the studies I read (34 out of 45) indicated that there were no significant differences between the adjustment of both adolescent and adult adoptees including self-esteem and the ability to form relationships with their non-adopted counterparts.... more

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I went to a handful of websites with information on and/or links to a large selection of studies. The first research I read was the piece that had researched all the research on adoptee vs non-adoptee behavior/adjustment/psychological profile.

This was really a lucky find, as it cautioned to pay special attention to the nature of study participants. The major points of concern were:

- "Clinically chosen" and "referred" indicates that these participants were already undergoing therapy or some sort of mental treatment.... more

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As I am always quite gung-ho when I start something new, I read the findings and/or synopsis of the findings of hundreds of studies of adoptee behavior and psychology. I pin-pointed forty-five that were focused specifically on comparing the psychological profile, adaptation and behavior of adoptees and non-adoptees. All of the relevant studies I included were concerned with adolescents and adults, although some of them were long-term studies and started when the participants were not yet teens.

There were even a couple of studies about... more

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Feeling better about the term ‘issue’ having been clarified, I magically separated Jan’s big list into what to me were its two parts, with a sprinkle of star-dust and a click of my heals. (I recently saw the Wizard of Oz for the first time in over twenty years… please forgive my Oz-esque digression, but I just can’t seem to contain myself. I’m even wearing my ruby flip-flops for the occasion.)

Here are the two groupings that emerged:

PROBLEMS 1. Connecting to others being harder to do for... more

Some of you may have read the blog posts I wrote exploring the perceived "issues" that are adoptee-specific. My point was, generally, that there are few issues that are really, at their core, about being adopted. I went through every issue I have ever heard related to being adopted and spouted off (as I am wont to do) trying to figure out if these things were really unique to adoptees or may be concerns for anybody.

Without exception, my logic (and experience) took me to the fact that these issues are for everyone to share. I was convinced that adoptees do not have a corner on most issue markets, from angst and anger at those that raised them, to difficulty in relationships and... more

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Unlike the era of Swift and his Gulliver, we are alive in a century where exists miraculous communication technology that has shrunk the globe and created torrential rivers of information never before attainable without many years, much money and endless effort. Unfortunately, the information has not yet been harnessed to banish ignorance and the resultant ‘isms’ it creates (racism,... more

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The issues three hundred years ago and the issues faced today have different veneers but the same old essential, "human nature" tag for behavior that is really sub-human. It’s sometimes even sub-animal. Animal behavior tends to be logical, as it is all about survival not greed, ego and judgment. Our behavior around the world today is truly Yahoo. Poor Gulliver. He knew it, even in 1714.

To... more

I just finished reading the classic, Gulliver’s Travels. I am not sure why I hadn’t ever got to this brilliant book before, but now that I have read it, better late than never definitely seems to apply. I found it as thoroughly engrossing a satire as has ever been written. Thoroughly engrossing, and equally disturbing.

This is a book written in Ireland circa the early 1700’s. In his magnificent and perhaps mischievous races, with sometimes-bovine faces, Jonathan Swift was poking his... more