PROBLEMS OF UPBRINGING AND ADAPTATION OF ADOLESCENT FEMALES AGED 15-17 IN ADOPTIVE FAMILIES

Abstract

Orphans and children left without parental care can be placed in adoptive families, which is supposed to ensure the best possible conditions for the upbringing and social adaptation of such children in a supportive family environment. Adaptation is seen as a social and psychological process of adjusting to new living conditions and psychological climate in the adoptive family. The study seeks to identify specific features of the upbringing and adaptation of adolescent females aged 15-17 who are children under wardship in adoptive families. The study is based on a questionnaire survey method. The object of the present study is adolescent females who are in the care of adoptive families and are undergoing medical treatment or screening in the adolescent unit for females aged 15-17 at the public healthcare institution “No. 4 Psychiatric Hospital” of the Moscow region. To investigate the upbringing and adaptation issues, a survey was conducted using the following questionnaires: 1) Adolescents’ perception of parents; 2) Family ambience scale; 3) Social and psychological adaptation scale. The questionnaire-based survey of adolescent females aged 15-17 raised in adoptive families yielded insights about the psychological aspect of relations between children and adoptive parents, which reveals the content and specificity of parenting practices from the perspective of the teenage girls. The study also evaluates the social climate in adoptive families and the sociopsychological adaptation of adolescent females to the new living conditions and parenting style. Questionnaire-based investigations can help identify existing problems in the upbringing of adolescent females in adoptive families, which may further advance evidence-based approaches to facilitating the social adaptation of adolescent females.