The broadest and most extensive study to date that deals with the adult identity of children adopted from foreign countries has revealed that many have struggled with coming to terms with their own ethnic identity.
Released in November by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, the study surveyed nearly 500 participants who made up the first generation of children adopted from South Korea. The study found the cultural clash was felt the hardest when they were children, when 78 percent of the respondents considered themselves white or reported they wanted to be white.
Growing up, the majority of Korean American respondents lived in communities that were less than 10 percent Asian. Over 70 percent of them had no close friends as children who were Asian, and more than half indicated the people in high school who they dated were white.
As children, the Korean American respondents reported being teased more for their ethnicity than their adopted status. While nearly 80 percent reported being teased “sometimes/often/all the time” for their ethnicity, only a little more than 20 percent reported being teased because they were adopted.
The study showed that ethnic identity became more important to the Korean American participants as they became older. Less than 40 percent said their ethnicity was important to them in elementary school. In high school, that number grew to nearly 70 percent, and by the time they reached young adulthood, over 80 percent said their ethnic identity was important to them.
When asked to describe their lives today, nearly 70 percent reported having a close friend of the same race, and nearly half the participants now live in communities where there is a higher number of Asians.
However, the study also found that the Korean participants were more likely than white participants to feel comfortable with their adopted identity, rather than with their ethnic identity. Only 13 percent of the Korean Americans said they felt welcomed “very often” by those from their own ethnic group.
While the majority of the respondents, whose average age was 36, now feel their ethnic identity is important to them, a number still struggle with their cultural identity.
“[While developing a sense of pride in culture]…sometimes I still wish I had blonde hair and blue eyes. My insides don’t match my outsides,” wrote one respondent.
When asked what could be done to make the process easier, the Korean American respondents answered with services related to diversity. These included traveling to Korea, attending racially diverse schools, having Korean or Asian role models, family travel to cultural significant places, and living in diverse places.
Because of the cultural struggle reported by the participants, the authors of the survey have offered recommendations to families of transracial adoptions. They encourage education parents about race throughout the developmental course, and provide opportunities for their children to be in racially diverse situations.
Outside the realm of parents, the researchers also recommend educating teachers, practitioners, and the media to erase stereotypes and stigma about adoption. They encourage further research on the adjustment of transracially adopted children to ease the process of shaping cultural identity.
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