Definition
Adoption studies typically compare pairs of persons, e.g., adopted child and adoptive mother or adopted child and biological mother to assess genetic and environmental influences on behavior.
Current Knowledge
Design
Familial resemblance of behaviors is due to genetic and/or common familial environmental influences. Adoption studies provide a direct test of the role of both factors. This is possible by drawing comparisons between families that share genetic and environmental influences and families that share only genetic or environmental factors. Adoption creates two types of families. The “genetic family” consists of pairs of genetically related individuals who do not share a common family environment (e.g., biological parent and adopted-away child). The similarity between these pairs of relatives provides a direct estimate of genetic effects on behaviors. The second type family is the “environmental family,” which is made up of pairs of individuals who are not genetically...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Readings
Bricker, J. B., Stallings, M. C., Corley, R. P., Wadsworth, S. J., Bryan, A., Timberlake, D. S., et al. (2006). Genetic and environmental influences on age at sexual initiation in the Colorado adoption project. Behavior Genetics, 36, 820–832.
Petrill, S. A., Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., & Hewitt, J. K. (2003). Nature, nurture, and the transition to early adolescence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Plomin, R., Fulker, D. W., Corley, R., & DeFries, J. C. (1997). Nature, nurture, and cognitive development from 1 to 16 years: A parent-offspring adoption study. Psychological Science, 8, 442–447.
Young, S. E., Rhee, S. H., Stallings, M. C., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (2006). Genetic and environmental vulnerabilities underlying adolescent substance use and problem use: General or specific? Behavior Genetics, 36, 603–615.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Palmer, R., Hahn, M. (2018). Adoption Studies. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1854
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1854
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences