The specificity principle in adoption

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Abstract

The Specificity Principle in Adoption asserts that specific setting conditions for adoption of specific adoptees born to specific birth parents and adopted by specific adoptive parents at specific times moderate specific domains in all members of the adoption tetrad by specific processes. Understanding adoption depends critically upon what is studied in whom, how, and when. This article defines, explains, and illustrates the Specificity Principle as applied to adoption. Research hypotheses about adoption can be more adequately tested, inconsistencies and discrepancies in the adoption literature can be more easily identified and resolved, adoptions can be refined to be improved for all parties, and adoption policies can be brought to more differentiated levels of effectiveness if the specificity principle that governs adoption is more widely recognized and applied.

Section snippets

Adoption

Adoption among human beings is an extraordinary act. The principal purpose of parenting is to rear offspring to become well-functioning members of a social group or society (Bornstein, 2015, Bornstein, 2019a). Birthing and rearing the next generation are practically an evolutionary imperative (Bjorklund, 2020; Dawkins, 2016). The vast majority of adults in the world become parents, and in that vast majority parenting takes place between a parent and a genetically related child born to that

Specificity in adoption

The picture of adoption that has been developed to date portrays the people, processes, and pathways of the adoption experience in a somewhat piecemeal fashion. Undergirding this perspective, however, lies an assumption of coherence and unity. That is, theory and research have focused on individual areas in a larger picture. From that work, a science of adoption has gradually materialized that reveals that adoption is a subtle and nuanced, constructive and productive phenomenon that is

Specificity principle in adoption: setting condition

Setting conditions of adoption, and important variants of setting, include, for example, the specific pathways toward adoption, specific circumstances that set adoptions in motion, specific place(s) where adoptions occur, specific experiences encountered during adoption, and diverse issues of specific statuses associated with adoption. Each setting condition shapes the nature of adoption uniquely.

Specificity principle in adoption: person

Person is the second term in specificity. All individuals react to significant life-altering events in unique ways, follow unique timetables in adapting to those events, and achieve unique final states of adaptation to those events. Thus, every adoptee, birth parent or adoptive parent, and professional working in adoption develops or adapts in her or his own manner according to person characteristics that are specific to those individuals. Here, individual-difference characteristics of all

The specificity principle in adoption: time

Multiple variations of time likewise moderate adoption. Adoption is life-long (Gladney Center for Adoption, 2019), and all individuals in the adoption tetrad process and adapt to adoption continually over many years. Just as some experiences take longer to embed than others, and the effects of some experiences change over time, so adoption is a temporally unfolding process. When it takes place and when it is observed make a difference. Here, for illustration we review three prominent

The specificity principle in adoption: domain

Specific domains in the adoptee's development and the adoptive tetrad's psychology constitute a fourth moderating factor in adoption. Adoption is neither digital nor uniform, but in accord with relational developmental systems metatheory (Lerner, 2018) adoption is best framed as modular and multidimensional. All manner of the tetrad's beliefs and behaviors have been examined in the adoption literature. Should we expect all domains of life (qua dependent variables) to be affected identically in

The specificity principle in adoption: process

Beyond considerations of specific setting condition, person, time, and domain, what transpires in adoption is moderated by specific processes. Understanding the processes by which setting condition, person, time, and domain influence the adoptive tetrad ought to be a major contemporary focus in adoption thinking and research. The specificity framework presented here contributes to refining theory and empiricism aimed at exploring the processes involved in shaping the adoption experience.

So far,

Terms of the specificity principle in adoption interact

As is expected of moderators, the different terms of the Specificity Principle condition one another. The foregoing treatments of individual terms of the Specificity Principle have hinted at examples of such interactions; here we provide a few specific illustrations that give evidence of expected interactions. Consider the following examples of setting condition, person, domain, and process as each interacts with time.

Is specificity new to adoption?

This article attempts to formalize a Specificity Principle in Adoption. However, specificity is not entirely new to the study of adoption or to developmental or psychological science more generally. The terms that are presented here are terms that are common to the study of human development. All human development occurs in specific settings, refers to specific people, at specific times, and involves specific developmental processes and domains. These specific aspects are basic principles for

The specificity principle, adoption science, and social policy

Even today, with all the progress that has been made in understanding adoption, the field still faces challenges in defining concepts, marshalling appropriate methods of study, and advancing professional interventions (Palacios, 2015). With the foregoing in mind, we can see that the Specificity Principle has implications for adoption science and for social policy in adoption practice. A brief exposition of each is warranted.

Pertinence of the specificity principle in adoption for adoption science

The Specificity Principle has implications for defining and operationalizing adoption. Adoption research has moved in the last half-century from a narrow focus on clinical issues in adoptees to much more differentiated considerations of all adoption players in the tetrad and a wider range of circumstances surrounding adoptions before, during, and after. The terms of specificity identified here could help to refine, concretize, and invigorate theory and research in adoption and propel the thrust

Pertinence of the specificity principle in adoption for adoption practice and policy

The Specificity Principle has implications for the design of interventions and programs in the service of adoption and for policy in ideologies related to adoption. Adoption is a topic that transcends basic research to speak to practice and policy and as well suggests intervention and therapy design changes aimed to improve the adoption experience.

Policy makers need to become mindful of the Specificity Principle and how it can inform their goals and programs. As detailed in specificity,

Conclusions

A majority of newly married couples want and expect to give birth to a child, yet after 1 year of having unprotected sex approximately 15% of couples are unable to conceive (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2021). Faced with that challenge, individuals must reassess the meaning and value of becoming a parent as well as decide on the additional steps they are willing to take to achieve that goal. Adoption is one prominent and (to many) appealing

Author statement

Both authors contributed to this review.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NICHD, USA, and an International Research Fellowship at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, UK, funded by the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 695300-HKADeC-ERC-2015-AdG).

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      However, when analyzed at the person-specific level, the data indicated that the whole-sample findings only pertained to a subset of schoolchildren, indicating that greater attention needs to be paid to individual specificity in evaluating therapies intended to enhance specific children's psychosocial development (see also Shonkoff and Center on the Developing Child, 2017). Finally, Bornstein and Suwalsky (2021) in explicating “The Specificity Principle in Adoption” explain that that specific setting conditions for adoption of specific adoptees born to specific birth parents and adopted by specific adoptive parents at specific times in the adoptee's life cycle and in history moderate by specific processes outcomes in specific domains in all members of the adoption tetrad. Understanding successes and failures in adoption depends critically on what is studied in whom, how, and when.

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