Mother–Child Relationship During Childhood in Adoptive Families and Psychological Well-Being in Early Adulthood

Abstract

Research on adoption traditionally focused on identifying difficulties in adopted children and adolescents. However, there is growing interest in adult adoptees. This study moves beyond the search for difficulties to analyse psychological well-being in adult adoptees, conceptualized as more than just the satisfaction of needs or the absence of problems. Previous research has highlighted preadoptive and postadoptive factors that might influence well-being, emphasizing the importance of family context during development for future adjustment. This work also aims to identify variables that promote psychological well-being, including both previous difficulties and positive influences from the family environment. The study included 73 adult adoptees (50.7% female) from a longitudinal study on domestic adoption in Spain, with a mean age of 7.18 in Wave 1, 13.18 in W2 and 29.58 years in W3. Their mean age at adoption was 1.85 years. Findings show that psychological well-being is influenced by previous difficulties and family factors during development. Moreover, there is an indirect effect that leads to considering all the variables included in the model. To conclude, despite the presence of difficulties that might influence adult psychological well-being, there are some variables related to the adoptive family that might buffer those effects.