Abstract
This paper analyzes how adoptees manage their identity with respect to their biological parents. Previous studies in Japan based on Erik Erikson's psychology of the self theory focus primarily on “telling the truth” by adoptive parents. These studies, however, have not analyzed a diversity of identity management strategies not have they focused much attention on socio-cultural factors. To compensate for this lack, this paper 1) focuses on adoptees experience post “telling” and 2) examines the interaction between self and others such as adoptive and birth parents. Through intensive interviews of ten adoptees, several cases imply that we should reconsider the trend to uniting a child's biological origins and identity.
