Anastasia Yakovleva, a student at the , studied the attitude of adolescents towards adoptive and foster parents or guardians, their emotional connection to them, and their sense of self within the family. Her thesis work also focused on their reaction to frustrating situations, a psychological state when a person encounters obstacles that do not allow them to achieve their goal, to fulfill a desire, or satisfy a need. The student鈥檚 results were surprising when her hypothesis, that in a frustrating situation adolescents from foster or adoptive families experience aggression, was not confirmed.
Yakovleva explained,
Attachment to parents by adolescents in biological and foster families was equally strong, no differences were found. It turns out that in fact, teenagers feel very deep gratitude towards their foster or adoptive parents for giving them the opportunity to have a family again. This means they can re-develop attachment relationships, depending on how the new parents treat them.
Projective techniques methodology yielded an unexpected result revealing significant differences between groups. Adolescents raised by foster or adoptive parents showed low self-esteem and low significance in the family. During situations of deprivation and stress, they showed guilt and avoidance of judgment. Adolescents from biological families showed outwardly aggressive behavior to protect their self-identity. My hypothesis was initially the opposite and this was confirmed by theoretical knowledge. However, in life it turned out quite differently and we were able to find an explanation for this.
Yakovleva formed a group of teenagers raised in non-biological families, as well as a group of their peers from birth families. Each group included 34 subjects aged 11 to 17 years. Each adolescent responded to questions through two psychological questionnaires and two projective techniques in which subjects were asked to determine their place in the family through a drawing and shown situational pictures. She observed the participants reaction.
The student continued,
I interacted with families who wanted to establish psychologically favorable relationships, to help increase the self-esteem of their non-biological children who are going through a difficult period in life. Unfortunately, families that do not strive for these goals and do not receive psychological support, were not covered by the study. We tried to reach out to them but did not have any success. Similarly, it was not possible to include adolescents from orphanages in the study, since these institutions proved to be even more closed than foster and adoptive families.
Yakovleva had never interacted with adolescents from foster or adoptive families before, so she was afraid her questions might provoke aggression or stress, but that did not happen. Still, it was difficult to establish contact, she had to overcome a negative attitude from the subjects.
Yakovleva explained,
In the process of research, I found out that in the psychological diagnosis and support for a teenager and their family, it is best to use psychological projective techniques. Only through the use of these techniques was I able to identify differences in the groups. In projective techniques, it is more difficult for the subjects to 鈥渢weak鈥� the answers they need to provide what is socially expected or showing themselves in the best light. In addition, it was more interesting for the adolescents to participate in these methods which added to their motivation and desire to participate further in the study.
