2019 Volume 33 Issue 1 Pages 27-39
This study focuses on the psychological changes and process by which an adoptive mother shifts into a maternal role beyond blood relation. Interviews were used to longitudinally assess an individual mother's relationship with her son, and resultant data was analyzed via TEM and TLMG. Examination of results revealed three main findings. Firstly, the mother tried to raise the adoptee in a good way ─ a way in which the child would grow to be a respectable and upright person. It should be noted that conflicts arose as the child approached puberty due to adoption adjustment. In the wake of her child's problematic behavior, the adoptive mother may have regretted her choice to adopt. Despite this, the mother still desired to retain the parent-child relationship, in reflecting on her experience with infertility treatment and yearning to have a child. Secondly, it was found that the mother may have abandoned her view of having a proud child, and instead learned to accept a more authentic view of her child. This notion is supported by expert advice and previous research that has improved our understanding of the influence of biological parental genes. Finally, as the adoptee grew, his origin became of greater importance. This led to the further development of the relationship between the mother and her adopted son, as she continually spoke with him about searching his roots to fill in gaps about any unknown genetic information. Overall, this study suggests that psychological changes in the adoptive mother's values were actualized as she shifted from simply being a legal parent to being an adoptive parent that transcends blood relation.
