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Nedelcu Dissertation.pdf (5.75 MB)

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The Impact of Pre-Adoption Stress on the Romanian Adoptees' Transitions to Adulthood and Adult Attachment: Perspectives of the Adoptees and the Adoptive Parents

Nedelcu, Cristina
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1539610709123468

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Social Welfare.
Shortly after the 1989 Romanian Anti-Communist Revolution, the Western media exposed an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Romanian orphanages. As a result, thousands of Romanian children were adopted into the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and other countries of Western and Southern Europe. A large percentage of these children had a background of institutional care and were subjected to at least some level of pre-adoption stress. The longitudinal studies conducted in the US, Canada and the UK have demonstrated that length of time spent in institutional care and exposure to pre-adoptive stress negatively influenced the development and the attachment of Romanian adoptees at every stage up until late adolescence. This cross-sectional study of Romanian adoptees in early adulthood examines the impact of length of time spent in institutional care and pre-adoption stress on adult transitions and adult attachment. Bowlby's theory of attachment and Arnett's theory of Emerging Adulthood are the theoretical frameworks used in this study. Results from surveys of 139 adoptive parents 61 adoptees suggests that pre-adoption stress and length of time in an institution before adoption were found to no longer influence the adoptees' transitions to adulthood or their ability to feel secure in their relationships during early adulthood. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.
Victor Groza (Committee Chair)
Elizabeth Tracy (Committee Member)
Meeyoung Min (Committee Member)
Denise Bothe (Committee Member)
349 p.
Social Research
Romanian adoptions, adult transitions, adult attachment, institutional care, pre-adoption stress

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nedelcu, C. (2019). The Impact of Pre-Adoption Stress on the Romanian Adoptees' Transitions to Adulthood and Adult Attachment: Perspectives of the Adoptees and the Adoptive Parents [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1539610709123468

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nedelcu, Cristina. The Impact of Pre-Adoption Stress on the Romanian Adoptees' Transitions to Adulthood and Adult Attachment: Perspectives of the Adoptees and the Adoptive Parents. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1539610709123468.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nedelcu, Cristina. "The Impact of Pre-Adoption Stress on the Romanian Adoptees' Transitions to Adulthood and Adult Attachment: Perspectives of the Adoptees and the Adoptive Parents." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1539610709123468

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.