Date of Award

Spring 6-3-2025

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Casey Stockstill

Second Advisor

Janice M. McCabe

Abstract

Adoption functions as both an identity status and a source of unique social benefits and challenges for teenagers, informing their experience of friendship. While prior research primarily focuses on individual outcomes and difficulties that adoptees face, such as trauma-related disorders and social skill deficits, it often overlooks how adoptees and their parents perceive these impacts on peer relationships. This study draws on twenty-one in-depth interviews with adoptees ages thirteen to twenty-one and their adoptive parents to explore the role that adoption and adverse childhood experiences have on an adopted teen’s experience of friendships. Findings reveal that despite facing significant social and emotional challenges stemming from trust and attachment issues, neglect, and early trauma, many adoptees demonstrate immense resilience.

Friendships offer adopted teens emotional support, motivation, and the opportunity to celebrate their identity as an adoptee. Adoption can also serve as a point of connection, helping adolescents form bonds with other adoptees or relate more deeply to non-adopted peers through shared vulnerability. Ultimately, this study underscores the complex relationship between adoption, identity, and adolescent peer relationships, advocating for a more holistic approach and view of adoptees’ social development and experience of friendship that highlights their struggles and strengths.

Download

Included in

Sociology Commons

Share

COinS