Can the Lecture by an Adoptive Parent for University Students Change Their Stereotypes of the Adoptive Family?

Abstract

This paper focused on popular stereotypes of the adoptive family in Japan, i.e. adoptive parents, adopted children, and their birth mothers. An adoptive mother was invited to talk about her experience to university students in three classes. The effect of the lectures was examined by comparing the before-lecture questionnaire and the after-lecture report. It was found that the students had stereotypically regarded adoptive parents as compassionate, adopted children as pitiable, and birth mothers as irresponsible before the lecture, but they came to consider each of them ‘normal’ and not ‘special’ after the class. Careful analysis of the after-report, however, suggested that this change did not necessarily lead to complete alteration of students’ stereotypes, although just a few of them seemed to be aware of and get over their implicit preoccupation. The difficulty in changing stereotypes was discussed as stemming from two norms; the norm to take marriage, pregnancy and childcare inseparable and the norm to emphasize self-responsibility for one’s own choice.