Transcript Self Identity Transracial Transcultural Presentation.ppt

Self-Identity In Transracial and
Transculturaly Adoptees
By: Kelly Crowley
www.holeinthewall.org.za/. ../pics/adoption1.jpg
Transracial and transcultural adoptees
have an ongoing and often bewildering
journey during their adolescent years,
the ages of thirteen to nineteen, to
find one’s self-identity.

“When We Walk Down the Street, Everyone Knows I’m Adopted,”
Says Josh, a Fourteen-year-old Korean Boy who was raised in a
white family
(David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., and Robin Marantz Henig101).
Self-Identity

* the awareness and identification of oneself as a separate
individual. A person’s self-identity is often boosted by their
race and ethnic identity.


*For an adopted teenagers it is difficult to locate their
personal history within their birth families and they are
likely to experience curiosity about their origins as
conflicting and dangerous


*An adopted adolescent may wonder what it means to be
black, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Spanish, Catholic etc and how
they can make it important and incorporate it in their daily
lives.
-Brinich Paul, M. “Some Potential Effects of Adoption on Self and Object
Psychoanalytical Studies of the Child 35 (1980): 107-33
Representations.” Journal of the
-David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., and Robin Marantz Henig96-98.
 “I
don’t have to listen to you! You’re
not my real parents!”
*It is a difficult reality that adopted adolescents are
conflicted inwardly. They do not have anything they can
comfortably associate themselves with.
David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., and Robin Marantz Henig96-98).
Birth Parent Fantasy
*Transracial and transcultural
teenage adoptees often develop
fantasies about their birth parents.
*These fantasies are an unrealistic
view of their birth parent
“I’m Asian, maybe Kimora
Lee Simons (Russell Simons
wife) is my mom? We look
alike,”stated a 15 year old
Asian adoptee.
(David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., and Robin Marantz Henig96-98).
Self-concept and Selfesteem
The understanding of self is a
primary task of the psychological
development and therefore it is
important for a person’s self-concept
and self-esteem to be strong.
Brodzinsky, David M. Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., Robin Marantz Henig. Being Adopted The
Lifelong Search for Self. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
Self-Concept
•Self-concept is the way an
individual views
himself/herself.
•Three Components
•physical self
•psychological self
•social self
Brodzinsky, David M. Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., Robin Marantz Henig. Being Adopted The
Lifelong Search for Self. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
Self-Esteem
Is the evaluative component that self-integrates the three
components of self-concept.
Self-esteem is the judgment one puts on oneself
One’s sense of who they are is influenced by every
experience they have; it is changed each time life
circumstances change
It is also the accumulation of small events which
contribute to one’s self-perception.
**Unfortunately, there are few clues for a transracially
and transculturally adopted adolescent.
Brodzinsky, David M. Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., Robin Marantz Henig. Being Adopted The
Lifelong Search for Self. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
“I’d like to see my birth
mother so I’ll know what I’ll
look like when I get older”
Trying to find one’s selfidentity being
transracially and
transculturally adopted
is like being in an empty
box without the key.
Brodzinsky, David M. Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., Robin Marantz Henig. Being
Adopted The Lifelong Search for Self. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
The Identity Problems That Begins In
Adolescence Can Be Resolved In One Of Four
Ways.
They form four categories:
Identity achievement
Moratorium
Identity foreclosure
Identity diffusion
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity Status.” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 3 (1966): 551-58
Identity achievement
*This occurs when an
individual consciously
experiences a crisis and
tries to resolve it by
exploration of alternative
roles.
*After experimenting, the
identity achiever is ready to
make a commitment to a
particular identity and set of
values.
*The identity achiever
may ask oneself, “What
do I believe in?” and
then try on different
values and ideologies.
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity Status.”
Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 3 (1966): 551-58
Moratorium
*The individual in moratorium
also confronts questions such as,
“what do I believe in?”
*The individual doesn’t
achieve any resolution or
commitment to a particular
path.
*Eventually, the
person will move on to
either identity diffusion
or more successfully,
identity achievement.
*Not a long-term
solution
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity
Status.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3 (1966):
551-58
Identity foreclosure
*This individual thinks
*These teenagers often
he/she has achieved a solid
identity, since she has made
a commitment to set of
values, a career path, or
role in life.
turn out to have
accepted their parents’
attitudes toward
adoption rather than
investigating adoption
issues on their own.
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity Status.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3 (1966): 551-58
Identity Diffusion.
*This person not only
avoids confronting an
identity crisis or seeking out
alternatives, and is unable to
make a commitment to a
particular identity such as a
career, a sexual orientation,
or a set of moral values.
*Occurs because a
teenager lacks either a
support system that
would allow them to
ask troubling
questions or a parent
figure sufficiently
appealing to identify
with
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity
Status.” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 3
(1966): 551-58
A study done in 1994 generated a wave of controversy in the
debate over whether adoption is a problem in adolescence.
The study found:
* Adolescents who were adopted
*This study was done primarily in
as infants transracially and
transculturally have a positive
identity formation and do not see
adoption as a threat to a healthy
self-identity
Korean born adoptees in transracial and
transcultural families
*They are well attached to their
adoptive parents, are
psychologically healthy, perceive
themselves as similar to their
adoptive parents in values,
personality, and interest.
Melina, Lois Ruskai, Peter L.Benson, Anu R. Sharma, and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain.
“Study
of adopted teens raises many questions as it answers.” Adopted Child
August 1994:13
The self-identity formation of
transracially and transculturally
adopted adolescents is universal and
a constant process.
Works Cited
Brinich Paul, M. “Some Potential Effects of Adoption on Self and
Object Representations.” Journal of the Psychoanalytical
Studies of the Child 35 (1980): 107-33
Brodzinsky, David M. Ph.D, Marshall D. Schechter, M.D., Robin
Marantz Henig. Being Adopted The Lifelong Search for
Self. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
Marcia, James E. “Development and validation of Ego-Identity
Status.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3
(1966): 551-58
Melina, Lois Ruskai, Peter L.Benson, Anu R. Sharma, and Eugene
C. Roehlkepartain. “Study of adopted teens raises many
questions as answers.” Adopted Child August 1994:13