Dillon

Adopting Parents’ View of Grace and Report of Behavior and Mood of Biological Children Without an Adopted Sibling, Anticipating an Adopted Sibling, and Those who Already Have Adopted Siblings

Ashley R. Dillon

Abstract

Adoption is popular way to grow one’s family. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau (2012) found that there were over 2 million adopted children living currently with their adoptive parents. While some parents adopt due to infertility issues, others adopted for different reasons, including the positive experience during parenting their biological children. Previous research has investigated the impact of adoption on the adoptee’s adjustment and overall functioning (Brodzinksy & Brodzinksy, 1992; Sharma, McGue, & Benson, 1998; Tan, 2008). Little research has been performed on the impact of adoption on existing family siblings, and there is no research published currently that has examined how the adoptive parent’s view of grace impacts their biological child’s behavior either with or without an adopted sibling. This study used the Richmont Grace Scale, Child Behavior Checklist for ages 6-18, and a basic demographic questionnaire completed by 47 parents through snowball sampling via an online survey. Results showed the relationship between parents’ views of grace and their biological child’s behavior. The results also showed a significant positive correlation between parents who identify as Christian and scores on the Richmont Grace Scale. Implications for parents and parent educators will be discussed as well as future research implications.

Keywords: grace, adoption, biological child, parenting, behavior