MTARP Participants, Procedures, and Measures

Each of the families in the project adopted a child in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Families and birthmothers were first interviewed between 1987 and 1992 (Wave 1), again between 1996 and 2000 (Wave 2), and again between 2005 - 2008 (Wave 3). An online survey of the young adult adoptees was conducted between 2012 - 2014 (Wave 4); a subset of birth mothers was also interviewed at Wave 4. Grotevant and colleagues have followed the adopted children and their adoptive parents (e.g., Grotevant, Ross, Marchel, & McRoy, 1999; Dunbar & Grotevant, 2004); McRoy and colleagues have followed the children's birth mothers (e.g., Christian, et al., 1997; Fravel, et al., 2000). Adoptive families and birth mothers were recruited for the study through 35 adoption agencies located across the United States.

Wave 1: 1986 - 1992

Families where there was at least one adopted child (the "target child") between the ages of 4 and 12 at the time of the interview, who was adopted through a US private adoption agency before his or her first birthday, and in which both adoptive parents were married to the partner they had at the time of the adoption were selected for the study. Transracial, international, or "special needs" adoptees were not included. Participants in the study were located in 23 different states from all regions of the U.S., making this study the only nationwide one of its kind.

At Wave 1, the study's participants included 720 individuals:

Both parents in 190 adoptive families,

At least one adopted child in 171 of the families, and

169 birth mothers

The vast majority of adoptive parents were White, Protestant and middle to upper-middle class.

Of the 190 adoptive couples interviewed, 177 identified themselves as non-Hispanic White, 3 as Latino, 1 as African American, and 1 as Latino and White. Eight couples gave no indication of their race but were identified by interviewers as White.

These couples reflect the population of families who are typically involved in formally adopting unrelated infants through private agencies, and birth mothers who tend to place their children for adoption.

Virtually all adoptive parents in the study had adopted because of infertility. The average level of education was 16.2 years for adoptive fathers and 15.1 for adoptive mothers. Adoptive fathers ranged in age from 32 to 53 (mean = 40.7) and adoptive mothers from 31 to 50 (mean = 39.1).

The birth mothers ranged in age from 14 to 36 years (mean = 19.1). Almost 2/3 of the birthmothers delivered when they were teenagers.

At the time of the study, the birth mothers ranged in age from 21 - 43 (mean = 27.1), and the average number of years of education attained was 13.5. Income ranged from 0 to $50,000+; the modal income range was between $20,000 - 29,000. In terms of ethnicity, 157 (92.9%) were non-Hispanic White, 4 (2.4%) were Latino, 2 (1.2%) were Native American, 1 each were African American and Asian American, and 4 did not list their ethnicity. Half of the birthmothers were currently married, and they had from 1 - 5 children.

Wave 2: 1996 - 2001

At Wave 2, participants included the parents and target adopted adolescent from 177 adoptive families: 173 adoptive mothers, 162 adoptive fathers, and 156 adopted adolescents (75 boys and 81 girls). At Wave 2, data are also available on 88 siblings and 127 birth mothers.

Wave 3: 2005 - 2008

At least one adoptive family member from 181 (95%) of the 190 original adoptive families recruited at W1 participated at W3. The W3 sample included 169 young adults (n = 87 males, 82 females; ages 20.77 - 30.34; M = 24.95 years). Young adults (YA) were asked to identify the person with whom they had the closest relationship. YAs were interviewed about their relationship with that person, and we asked their consent to invite their closest relationship partners (YAP) to participate as well. A total of 103 young adult partners (YAP) participated. Adoptive mothers and adoptive fathers from the original 190 adoptive families at Wave I were invited to participate at Wave 3. The W3 sample included 151 adoptive mothers and 134 adoptive fathers.

Wave 4: 2012 - 2014

All target adopted young adults (YAs) from the original 190 families recruited into MTARP at Wave 1 were invited to participate, with the exception of one young adult, who was known to be deceased. The W4 sample included 112 young adults (n = 50 males, 62 females; ages 26.29 – 37.51; M = 31.43 years). 

All 169 birth mothers who participated in the original MTARP study at Wave 1 (W1) were re-contacted in 2003 and again in 2009 to assess their willingness to participate in a Wave 4 (W4) round of data collection. At that time, 81 birthmothers provided a brief update on their adoption arrangements and indicated their willingness to be re-contacted about future participation. When W4 began in 2012, 72 of these birthmothers could be located and were invited to participate again. W4 data collection occurred between 2012 and 2016. The W4 sample included 39 birth mothers (M = 50.36 years; SD=4.14) who provided complete data on all W4 measures. Approximately 68% of birth mothers who completed the demographic survey reported being married; 76% had at least one parented child. Twenty-four birth mothers were employed full-time and about 62% had received a bachelor’s degree or higher. Twenty-six of the birth mothers were in current contact with their placed child, and for 15 of those birth mothers the contact has been continuous since placement.

For more detailed information on the MTARP participants, download the following files:

• Wave 1 and 2 Methods Summary (PDF)
• Wave 3 Methods Summary (PDF)
• Wave 4 Methods Summary (DOC)

Wave 1:

Adoptive families were interviewed in their homes across the United States in one session that lasted 3 - 4 hours. The session included separate interviews with each parent and with the target adopted child; administration of several questionnaires; and a joint couples interview with the adoptive parents. Birth mothers were interviewed in their home, at the agency, or by telephone. They also completed several questionnaires. Details about measures are provided in the "Measures" section and in the Method Summary documents available as downloads.

Wave 2:

At Wave 2, adoptive families were once again seen in their homes during a single session that typically lasted 4 - 5 hours. The session included individual interviews with each parent and the target adopted child, administration of several questionnaires, and administration of a family interaction task. Some family members were interviewed by telephone when it was impossible to gather everyone together for the home visit (e.g., living out of the U.S., adolescent away at college, etc.)

Wave 3:

At Wave 3, the adopted young adults completed their interviews and questionnaires online. Each participant was assigned a unique username and password to access a menu page housing consent and compensation forms, a link to the secure chat site (for the interview) and a set of 11 questionnaires. Interviewers arranged by phone and emails to meet participants in the secure online chat sites prior to the first interview. After consenting to participate in the study, participants followed a link to the chat site to complete a section of the interview. Most interviews took place in 2 to 3 sessions. After completing all interview sessions, participants began the questionnaires. Participants were given access to questionnaires in a specified order. A new questionnaire became available after the participant had finished the preceding one. The adoptive parents completed interviews over the telephone and questionnaires by paper. After agreeing on the phone to participate in the study they were mailed a consent form and two questionnaires. Once these forms were returned, a telephone interview was scheduled. Mothers and fathers each completed separate questionnaires and interviews. The young adult partners (YAP) completed their interviews and questionnaires online following the same procedures as the adopted young adults. YAPs completed one interview and three questionnaires. Most interviews took place in one session. Birth mothers were not interviewed at Wave 3.

Wave 4:

At Wave 4, the adopted young adults completed an online survey. Each participant was assigned a unique link by Qualtrics, online survey software, to access the consent form, instructions on how to navigate the survey, and the survey itself. After consenting to participate in the study, participants received an email in their preferred email account, which contained a link to the survey. The survey consisted of 11 Parts for those participants without children, and 13 Parts for those participants who indicated that they did have children. All participants were notified that the preferred timeframe for completing the survey (once they had started it) was one week. The majority of participants completed their surveys on the day they started. After completing the survey, participants were sent a thank you email, which also contained a reminder about compensation. If participants did not complete their surveys within the given timeframe of one week, they were sent reminder emails through the Qualtrics website. The young adults were compensated $50 for completion of the survey and entered into a drawing for an iPad. A few of the adopted young adults (n = 5) completed surveys in hardcopy paper format for reasons such as lack of internet access, discomfort communicating in an electronic format and lack of time.

Birth mothers were contacted via email and a hardcopy letter to gauge their interest in participating in the survey. If participants could not be found through either of these methods of contact, then their participating birth children, who were in current contact with their birth mothers, were asked to forward a study invitation to them. After consenting to participate in the study, participants received an email in their preferred email account, which contained a survey link. Each participant was assigned a unique link by Qualtrics, online survey software, to access the consent form, instructions on how to navigate the survey, and the survey itself.
After completing the survey, participants were sent a thank you email. If participants did not complete their surveys within the given timeframe of one week, they were sent reminder emails through the Qualtrics website. Thirty-six of the birth mothers completed the survey online, while 3 birth mothers completed surveys in hardcopy paper format for reasons such as lack of Internet access and lack of time to remain online. The birth mothers who indicated that they had identifying information about the child they placed for adoption and were either in direct contact with this adopted young adult or were following the adopted young adult through various forms of social media (such as Facebook) were invited to participate in a follow-up interview. Of the 39 birth mothers who completed a survey, 30 met the criteria for an invitation, and 26 birth mothers completed an interview.

Wave 1: Adoptive Parent Measures:

• Demographic questionnaire
• Adoptive Parent Interview
• Child Adaptive Behavior Inventory (CABI: Miller, 1987)
• Kirk Adoption Questionnaire (Kirk, 1981)
• Parenting Stress Index (PSI: Abidin, 1986)
• Twenty Statements Test (TST: Kuhn & McPartland, 1954)

Wave 1: Adopted Child Measures:

• Child Interview
• Understanding of Adoption Scale (Brodzinsky, Singer, & Braff, 1984)
• Self-Perception Scale for Children (Harter, 1985)
• Twenty Statements Test (see above)

Wave 1: Birth mother Measures

• Demographic Questionnaire
• Birth mother Interview
• Ego Identity Interview (Grotevant & Cooper, 1981)
• Health Checklist (Pennebaker, 1986)
• Intimacy Interview (White, Speisman, Costos, Kelly, & Bartis, 1984)
• Self-Perception Profile for Adults (Messer & Harter, 1986)
• Twenty Statements Test (see above)

Wave 2: Adoptive Parent Measures

• Adoptive Parent Interview
• Agency Questionnaire
• Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI: Derogatis, 1993)
• Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL: Achenbach 1991a)
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Family Assessment Device (FAD: Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1985)
• Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (FILE: McCubbin, Patterson, & Wilson, 1981)
• NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R: Costa & McCrae, 1993)
• Parenting Stress Inventory (PSI: Abidin, 1986)
• Psychological Parenting Questionnaire (Henney, 1995)

Wave 2: Adopted Adolescent Measures

• Adopted Adolescent Interview
• Adopted Adolescent Interview: Identity Coding
• Adolescent Interview: Discrete Coding
• Adolescent Interview: Openness Coding
• Adoption Dynamics Questionnaire (ADQ: Benson, Sharma, & Roehlkepartain, 1994)
• Brief Symptom Inventory (see above)
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Family Assessment Device (see above)
• Personal Experience Screening Questionnaire (PESQ: Winters, 1991)
• Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA: Armsden & Greenberg, 1986)
• Youth Self Report (Achenbach, 1991b)

Wave 2: Family Interaction Task

Both adoptive parents and the adopted target adolescent participated in a 20-minute audiotaped family interaction task, in which the family was told they have unlimited funds and 2 weeks to plan a vacation together. They are asked to decide where they would go and what they would do each day. This task was successfully used in the researcher's earlier work (Family Process Project: Grotevant & Cooper, 1985, 1986) with a demographically-similar sample of non-adoptive families. Interactions were transcribed verbatim and coded for individuality and connectedness, using the Individuality and Connectedness Q-sort (Bengtson & Grotevant, 1999).

Wave 2: School Records

Adolescents and their parents were asked permission for us to contact the adolescents' schools for their grades from as many years as possible, standardized test scores, class rank, and records concerning special education and gifted and talented programming. This information forms a unique longitudinal data set based on archival records rather than self report.

Wave 2: Birth mother Measures

• Birthmother Interview and Demographic Questionnaire
• Brief Symptom Inventory (see above)
• Ego Identity Interview
• ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (Fowers & Olsen, 1993)
• Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (see above)
• Grief Experience Inventory-Loss Version (Sanders, Mauger, & Strong, 1985)
• Harter Self-Perception Profile for Adults (Messer & Harter, 1987)
• Health Checklist (see above)
• Intimacy Interview
• Life History Calendar (Freedman, Thorton, Camburn, Alwin, & Young-Demarco, 1986)
• NEO Personality Inventory (see above)
• Openness Checklist
• Twenty Statements Test (see above)

Wave 3: Adopted Emerging Adult Measures

• Adopted Young Adult Interview - Adoption
• Identity Interview (Religion, Education / Career)
• Intimacy Interview (aka Personal Interaction Interview)
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Network of Relationships Inventory
• Adoption Communication Scale
• Interview of Parent and Peer Attachment
• Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire
• Life Events Questionnaire
• Achenbach Adult Self-Report
• Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood
• Adoption Dynamics Questionnaire

Wave 3: Adoptive Parent Measures

• Adoptive Parent Interview
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Achenbach Adult Behavior Checklist

Wave 3: Young Adult Partner Measures

• Young Adult Partner Interview - Intimacy Interview
• Demographic Questionnaire
• Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire
• Network of Relationships Inventory

Wave 4: Young Adult Adoptee Measures

The 13 Part YA survey was administered in the following order:
1. Demographics (living arrangements, education, employment, community / civic service, family, relationships, children, health, religion)
2. Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood
3. Adoption Dynamics Questionnaire (30 item version)
4. Adoptive Identity Questionnaire
Questions about microaggressions
5. Adoption Openness / Contact questions about birth mother, birth father, and birth siblings
6. Adoption-related Feelings (about birth mother, birth father, birth siblings, adoptive mother, adoptive father, and self)
7. Balancing Your Life Questionnaire
Life Events
8. Ryff Scales of Psychological Well Being
9. Brief Symptom Inventory
10. Experiences in Close Relationships
11. Network of Relationships Inventory
12. Child Adaptive Behavior Inventory – only for participants with children
13. Parenting Stress Index – only for participants with children

Wave 4: Birth Mother Measures

The 7 Part birth mother survey was administered in the following order:
1. Demographics (living arrangements, education, employment, family, relationships, children, religion)
2. Information gathering and contact with young adult adoptee
3. Openness among those involved with the adoption
4. Relationship between YA and others in the birth family
5. Feelings about the adoption plan
6. Current birth mother role
7. Agency contact

A subset of birth mothers was also interviewed. The semi-structured interviews were an extension of the birth mother survey and allowed for more in-depth responses related to the topics of the survey. These topics included information-gathering and contact with the adopted young adult, openness among those involved with the adoption, relationship between their adult birth child and others in the birth family, feelings about the adoption plan, current birth mother role, and agency contact. There was also a section exploring the role technology played in communication and information-gathering, with a set of questions related to social media use.