Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T07:38:01.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adoptive Families Referred for Psychiatric Advice

II. The Parents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michael Humphrey  and
Christopher Ounsted
Michael Humphrey
Affiliation:
Warneford and Park Hospitals, Oxford
Christopher Ounsted
Affiliation:
Park Hospital for Children, Oxford
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In our previous paper (Humphrey and Ounsted, 1963) we found that the symptoms and behaviour problems of children adopted in early infancy resembled those of children reared by their own parents. A significant trend appeared only among children adopted after the age of 6 months, who were more prone to anti-social conduct. But the proportion of adopted children referred to the Park Hospital for Children over a four-year period (2·9 per cent.) was more than double the corresponding estimate for the general population. It is tempting to attribute at least part of this excess to the relatively large number of delayed adoptions in our sample, of whom 34 out of 80 (43 per cent.) were aged 6 months or more at the time of placement.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 110 , Issue 467 , July 1964 , pp. 549 - 555
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1964 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brenner, R. F., and Hartley, R. (1951). A Follow-up Study of Adoptive Families. New York: Child Adoption Research Committee Inc.Google Scholar
Hanson, F. M., and Rock, J. (1950). “The effect of adoption on fertility and other reproductive functions”, Amer. J. Obstet. Gynec., 59, 311–320.Google Scholar
Humphrey, M. E., and Ounsted, C. (1963). “Adoptive families referred for psychiatric advice. I. The children”, Brit. J. Psychiat., 109, 599–608.Google Scholar
Kirk, H. D. (1963). “Nonfecund people as parents—some social and psychological considerations”, Fertility and Sterility, 14, 310–319.Google Scholar
McWhinnie, A. (1958). The Social Circumstances and Adjustment in Adult Life of 58 Adopted Children. Ph.D. thesis. Edinburgh University Library.Google Scholar
National Association for Mental Health (1953). A Survey based on Adoption Case Records. London.Google Scholar
Ounsted, C. (1955). “The hyperkinetic syndrome in epileptic children”, Lancet, ii, 303–311.Google Scholar
Sants, H. J. (1964): “Genealogical bewilderment in children with substitute parents”, Brit. J. Med. Psychol. Part 2. In press.Google Scholar
Trasler, G. B. (1960). In Place of Parents: A Study of Foster Care. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Wittenborn, J. R. (1957). The Placement of Adoptive Children. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.