There is a body of emerging research that investigates whether adopted adolescents are more likely to develop behavior problems than their biological counterparts. However, few investigations have considered whether there are differences among adoption groups as to the development of behavior problems. The purpose of this study was to explore differences in psychosocial adjustment among transracia adoptees, Caucasian adoptees, and their non-adopted siblings during late adolescence/early adulthood, a potentially vulnerable point in their development. Analyses in this paper are based on parental interview data of 240 children in 91 adoptive families. Participants were on average nineteen years of age. Based on the interview data, four composite scales were created to assess school problems, behavior problems, general health, and delinquency. It was found that the majority of children in the transracial adoptive families did not show evidence of poor psychosocial adjustment as portrayed by the perceptions of their parents in interviews. However, for almost every indicator, the birth offspring were the least likely among the groups of children to be seen as having experienced significant adjustment problems. In contrast, the adopted children were perceived as more likely to have experienced poor adjustment. These data suggest that individual differences, rather than group differences, are more critical for understanding the adolescent psychosocial adjustment outcomes of this sample of transracial adoptees and their non-adopted siblings. The findings are consistent with the literature showing that adoptees (including adolescents) are at greater risk than non-adoptees for externalizing behavior problems including delinquency, general health, and school adjustment.
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