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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Narratives of identity in adopted adolescents: interview analysis

subject

description

Aim of the study The aim of the study was to examine the essential aspects of the process of shaping the identity of adopted persons. Subject or material and methods In the study a qualitative method of narrative interview was used. Results The results of the study were then analyzed in terms of self-awareness, family relations and wider social relations, which were described by other adoption researchers as the important factors in the shaping of the adoptive identity. Discussion Analysis of the narratives’ content allowed to establish that in the period of early and late adolescence other essential and vitally important issues play a dominant role in shaping the adoptee’s identity. This applies both to the content of the questions posed and the degree of involvement in the search for answers to these questions. Conclusions In summary, the process of formation of the adoptee’s identity revealed a lot of vitally important issues that have to be faced by an adopted person. This is associated with the experience of being a child abandoned by the biological parents, but a central place in this process is occupied by the narratives about family. Their content, both in the early and late adolescence is similar, but in the late adolescence, there occur also the strands concerning the adoptive family. Adopted adolescents develop a new concept of family: present family, family to which I belong to, my adoptive parents.