Swedish Adoption Research Articles

Adoption with complications: Conversations with adoptees and adoptive parents on everyday racism and ethnic identity

This study is based on qualitative interviews with 20 adult international adoptees of colour and eight adoptive parents with internationally adopted children in Sweden regarding their experiences of racialization, ethnic identifications and coping strategies. The findings suggest that the non-white bodies of the adoptees are constantly made significant in their everyday lives in interactions with the white Swedish majority population, whether expressed as ‘curious questions’ concerning the ethnic origin of the adoptees or as outright aggressive racialization. The study argues that race has to be taken into consideration by Swedish adoption research and the Swedish adoption community, to be able to fully grasp the high preponderance of psychic ill health among adult adoptees as found by quantitative adoption research.

To be Non-white in a Colour-Blind Society: Conversations with Adoptees and Adoptive Parents in Sweden on Everyday Racism

This study is based on qualitative interviews with 20 adult international adoptees of colour and 8 adoptive parents with internationally adopted children in Sweden regarding their experiences of racialisation, ethnic identifications and coping strategies. The study finds that the non-white bodies of the adoptees are constantly made significant in their everyday lives in interactions with the white Swedish majority population, whether expressed as ‘curious questions’ concerning the ethnic origin of the adoptees or as outright aggressive racialisation. The study argues that race has to be taken into consideration by Swedish adoption research and the Swedish adoption community, in order to fully grasp the high occurrence of mental illness among adult adoptees as found by quantitative adoption research.

Predisposition to criminality: Swedish adoption studies in retrospect.

The predisposition to criminality was studied in 913 women and 862 men from the Stockholm Adoption Study. Different genetic and environmental antecedents influenced the development of criminality, depending on whether or not there was associated alcohol abuse. Male alcoholic criminals often committed repeated violent offences, whereas non-alcoholic criminals characteristically committed a small number of petty property crimes. These non-alcoholic petty criminals more often had biological fathers with histories of petty crime but no excess of alcohol abuse. The risk of criminality in alcohol abusers was correlated with the severity of their own alcohol abuse, but not with criminality in their biological or adoptive parents. Most explained variation in petty crime was due to differences between the genetic predispositions of the adoptees, but substantial contributions were also made by postnatal environment, either alone or in combination with specific genetic subtypes. There was no overlap between the congenital antecedents of alcoholism and non-alcoholic criminality, but some postnatal variables were common to this kind of criminality and type 2 or male-limited alcoholism. Low social status alone was not sufficient to lead to petty criminality, but did increase risk in combination with specific types of genetic predisposition. Unstable preadoptive placement contributed to the risks of both petty criminality and male-limited alcoholism.

Genotype–Environment Interactions: Cognitive Aging and Social Factors

The possibility of genotype-environment interaction for memory performance and change was examined in 150 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging (SATSA). We used an MZ twin pair difference approach to examine the possibility that genotype was associated with intrapair variability and thus suggestive of genotype-nonshared environment interactions. Multiple 'variability genes' were found for longitudinal change in a semantic memory task including candidates coding for apolipoprotein E (APOE) and estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) as well as serotonin candidates (HTR2A and 5HTT). One candidate also related to variability in change in episodic memory (5HTT). Of the significant associations observed, generally results indicated that MZ pairs who carry putative risk alleles were less variable than noncarriers, suggesting that noncarriers may be more sensitive to environmental contexts. We sought to 'contextualize' the possible nonshared environmental influences for found gene-environment (G x E) effects by considering intrapair differences in measured social and stress factors, including social support, life events and depressive symptoms. Results suggested that nonshared environmental influences associated with depressive symptoms may moderate the G x E relationship observed for ESR1 and APOE and longitudinal semantic memory change whereby noncarriers of putative risk alleles may be relatively more sensitive to depressionevoking environmental contexts than carriers of the risk allele. Thus, the contexts that facilitate or reduce depressive symptoms may affect semantic memory resiliency dependent on genotype. Further work ought to consider larger sample sizes as well as consider additional social and contextual factors.

The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data*

We use unique Swedish data with information on adopted children's biological and adoptive parents to estimate intergenerational mobility associations in earnings and education. We argue that the impact from biological parents captures broad prebirth factors, including genes and prenatal environment, and the impact from adoptive parents represents broad postbirth factors, such as childhood environment. We find that both pre- and postbirth factors contribute to intergenerational earnings and education transmissions, and that prebirth factors are more important for mother's education and less important for father's income. We also find some evidence for a positive interaction effect between postbirth environment and prebirth factors.

The Origins of Intergenerational Associations: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data

We use unique Swedish data to estimate intergenerational associations between adoptees and their biological and adoptive parents. We argue that the impact from biological parents captures broad pre-birth factors, including genes and prenatal environment, and the impact from adoptive parents represents broad post-birth factors, such as childhood environment, for the intergenerational association in education and income. We find that both pre- and post-birth factors contribute to intergenerational transmissions, and that pre-birth factors are more important for mother's education and less important for father's income. We also find some evidence for a positive interaction effect between post-birth environment and pre-birth factors.

Gene–Environment Interaction Effects on Behavioral Variation and Risk of Complex Disorders: The Example of Alcoholism and Other Psychiatric Disorders

There have been few replicated examples of genotype x environment interaction effects on behavioral variation or risk of psychiatric disorder. We review some of the factors that have made detection of genotype x environment interaction effects difficult, and show how genotype x shared environment interaction (GxSE) effects are commonly confounded with genetic parameters in data from twin pairs reared together. Historic data on twin pairs reared apart can in principle be used to estimate such GxSE effects, but have rarely been used for this purpose. We illustrate this using previously published data from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging (SATSA), which suggest that GxSE effects could account for as much as 25% of the total variance in risk of becoming a regular smoker. Since few separated twin pairs will be available for study in the future, we also consider methods for modifying variance components linkage analysis to allow for environmental interactions with linked loci.

Gene–Environment Interaction Effects on Behavioral Variation and Risk of Complex Disorders: The Example of Alcoholism and Other Psychiatric Disorders

AbstractThere have been few replicated examples of genotype x environment interaction effects on behavioral variation or risk of psychiatric disorder. We review some of the factors that have made detection of genotype x environment interaction effects difficult, and show how genotype x shared environment interaction (GxSE) effects are commonly confounded with genetic parameters in data from twin pairs reared together. Historic data on twin pairs reared apart can in principle be used to estimate such GxSE effects, but have rarely been used for this purpose. We illustrate this using previously published data from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging (SATSA), which suggest that GxSE effects could account for as much as 25% of the total variance in risk of becoming a regular smoker. Since few separated twin pairs will be available for study in the future, we also consider methods for modifying variance components linkage analysis to allow for environmental interactions with linked loci.

Mental Health in International Adoptees as Teenagers and Young Adults. An Epidemiological Study

Sweden has now around 38,000 individuals who have been adopted from other countries. Most often they are transracially adopted and have a different appearance from their new parents—“visible ” adoptions. This study was made to explore the mental health of a teenager/young adult group that arrived with their families in the southernmost county of Sweden between 1970 and 1977. They were placed through the largest Swedish adoption agency at that time. One hundred and forty-seven families and their 211 adopted children, who were 13 years of age or older at the time of the investigation, were interviewed in their homes. CBCL, SCL-90, a self-esteem questionnaire, and two family relations inventories were also completed. Compared to nonadopted Swedish young persons of the same ages, who had been investigated with the same inventories in earlier epidemiological studies, the adoptees had as good mental health. The adoptees also reported good self-esteem. The pre-adoption conditions were more important than the age of arrival in itself for the risk of later maladaptation. Family relations, various aspects of identity, and peer relations explained much of the variance of mental health and self-esteem. Those who were most engaged in questions about their identity and felt mostly non-Swedish had more behaviour problems. The association, however, between the factor “ Identity ” and the mental health variables approached zero for the older subjects (18–27 years of age). The majority (about 90%) of the adoptees felt mostly Swedish. Seventy per cent didn't feel any connection to their country of origin.

Mental Health in International Adoptees as Teenagers and Young Adults. An Epidemiological Study

Sweden has now around 38,000 individuals who have been adopted from other countries. Most often they are transracially adopted and have a different appearance from their new parents--"visible" adoptions. This study was made to explore the mental health of a teenager/young adult group that arrived with their families in the southernmost county of Sweden between 1970 and 1977. They were placed through the largest Swedish adoption agency at that time. One hundred and forty-seven families and their 211 adopted children, who were 13 years of age or older at the time of the investigation, were interviewed in their homes. CBCL, SCL-90, a self-esteem questionnaire, and two family relations inventories were also completed. Compared to nonadopted Swedish young persons of the same ages, who had been investigated with the same inventories in earlier epidemiological studies, the adoptees had as good mental health. The adoptees also reported good self-esteem. The pre-adoption conditions were more important than the age of arrival in itself for the risk of later maladaptation. Family relations, various aspects of identity, and peer relations explained much of the variance of mental health and self-esteem. Those who were most engaged in questions about their identity and felt mostly non-Swedish had more behaviour problems. The association, however, between the factor "Identity" and the mental health variables approached zero for the older subjects (18-27 years of age). The majority (about 90%) of the adoptees felt mostly Swedish. Seventy per cent didn't feel any connection to their country of origin.

Nature and Nurture Lessons from Swedish Adoption Surveys

The following article by Professor Michael Bohman begins with a brief historical analysis of child development theory in relation to adoption and fostering after the end of the Second World War. The author goes on to review research findings from a series of Swedish adoption surveys which began under his supervision in the 1960s and continue to this day. Much attention is given to the significance of genetic and environmental factors towards shaping the development of adopted children into adulthood. Problems of social and psychological adjustment are discussed, as are the genetic aspects of criminality and alcohol misuse in a group of adult adopted people.

Alcohol Research

IT IS a happy coincidence that the Archives of General Psychiatry is presenting a superb group of articles on alcoholism in this issue. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is celebrating its 25th anniversary during this academic year, and much of the research described in these articles was supported by the NIAAA. The Editorial Board has kindly invited me to introduce this issue. I think the best way of doing that is to comment on major conceptual advances made during the last decades, with some illustrations from current research. A SIGNIFICANT FRACTION OF VULNERABILITY TO ALCOHOLISM IS INHERITED That alcoholism runs in families has long been known, but only since the 1970s has a mix of twin and adoption studies demonstrated that much of this vulnerability is inherited. The important Swedish adoption study of Cloninger et al 1 has recently been replicated. 2 What is inherited is

Design-manufacturing practice in the US and Sweden

In a comparative study of 208 US and 109 Swedish durable goods firms, and their practices for promoting design-manufacturing integration, greatest convergence was found for the adoption of manufacturing sign-off of product plans. Sign-off was also the most widespread practice, currently being used by about 75% of all companies in both countries. The US and Swedish firms were also similar, but not identical, in their promotion of mobility among engineers across functions. Permanent moves occur in about half these firms in both countries, but the details, such as which positions are involved, were not available. New structures to promote design-manufacturing integration mere adopted by about 60-65% of all Swedish firms and the larger US companies (1991), but 46% for small US firms (1993). Both countries report the widespread use of teams. There appears to be considerable difference between the two countries in adoption of design training. In 1992 the Swedish adoption rate of DFM (Design for Manufacturing) training was about 20% which is nearly the same as the US large firm adoption rate of 18% in 1987. The larger firm US adoption rate was nearly 56% in 1991 (41% for smaller firms in 1993) but institutional factors such as engineering education have not been controlled. The widest divergence between Swedish and US policies and practices for design-manufacturing integration concerns job rotation. Correlation results indicate convergence of adoption practices in the area of DFM training and manufacturing sign-off for Sweden and the US. >

Is there G beyond g? (Is there genetic influence on specific cognitive abilities independent of genetic influence on general cognitive ability?)

Both general and specific cognitive abilities show genetic influence, but are these the same genetic effects? Multivariate genetic analyses are beginning to build the case that there are genetic effects on specific cognitive abilities independent of genetic effects (G) on general cognitive ability ( g). This article investigates this issue using a simple model that tests whether significant genetic influence on specific cognitive abilities remains after genetic effects for g are partialed out. Data for 13 cognitive tests from the Swedish Adoption/ Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) were employed. The adoption/twin design includes identical twins separated at an early age and reared apart (46 pairs), matched identical twins reared together (67 pairs), fraternal twins reared apart (100 pairs), and fraternal twins reared together (89 pairs); average age was 65.6 years. Although much genetic influence can be explained by genetic effects on g, 12 of 13 tests showed significant genetic influence independent of genetic influence on general cognitive ability.

Association Between the D2 Dopamine Receptor Gene and Alcoholism

The idea that alcoholism is familial has been accepted for centuries. However,<i>familial</i>does not translate directly to<i>hereditary</i>. Studies on twins, raised together and apart (adoption studies), clearly show that there is a major genetic component to alcoholism. In fact, more recent studies on a total of 1775 children born to single mothers in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1930 and 1949, their adoptive families, and their biological parents have identified at least two of the following classes of alcoholics: milieu-limited (type 1) and malelimited (type 2). Although type 2 alcoholism is more frequent in men, their female siblings show an abnormally high prevalence of somatization disorder. Type 2 alcoholism is highly inheritable from father to son, regardless of environmental background. On the other hand, in the Swedish adoption study, the risk of type 1 alcoholism to siblings increased as a function of both biological family history and adoptive environment.¹

The Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging: An Update

The Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) is a longitudinal program of research in gerontological genetics which is currently in its fifth year. The base population is comprised of 351 pairs of twins reared apart and 407 matched control pairs of twins reared together who responded to a questionnaire (Q1) in 1984. Two additional stages of SATSA have recently been completed: a longitudinal follow-up questionnaire mailed out in 1987 (Q2) and extensive in-person testing (IPT1) which included a health examination and cognitive battery. A second wave of IPT was started in January 1989. A summary of some of the major findings from Q1 and a description of IPT1 are reported.

The Swedish Studies of the Adopted Children of Alcoholics: A Reply to Littrell

Empirical support for genetic heterogeneity in alcoholism from the Stockholm Adoption Study and related studies is described. Evidence for distinct alcoholic subtypes in Swedish adoptees has been replicated and extended in other samples in Sweden and the United States by means of clinical interviews, prospective longitudinal studies, pedigree and neurophysiological studies. A general theory of neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms has been described and supported by clinical, genetic and neuropharmacological results. Littrell’s comments on the Swedish adoption studies contain fundamental errors of fact, logic and concept that infirm her conclusions. Alternative hypotheses suggested by Littrell to explain paternal and maternal inheritance patterns without distinguishing subtype-specific genetic factors cannot account for the observed data. Alcoholic subtypes can now reliably be distinguished using operational diagnostic criteria based on explicit alcohol-related symptoms or personality traits. As predicted by t...

The Swedish studies of the adopted children of alcoholics.

The authors of the widely cited studies analyzing the Swedish adoption records of the children of alcoholics have advanced the notion that there are three distinct paths for the inheritance of alcoholism. One path results in moderate alcoholism in men and a form of somatization but no alcoholism in women. A second path results in severe and mild alcoholism in men and alcoholism in women. The third path results in a particular variety of alcohol abuse in men and a particular variety of somatization in women. This article analyzes the authors' claims. It is argued that the data were improperly analyzed for the conclusions reached and alternative parsimonious explanations for the results are offered. Although the Swedish studies do not offer support for three distinct paths of inheritance of alcoholism, they do support the inheritability of alcoholism and suggest that alcoholism may be linked with somatization in women. Unfortunately, reasonable questions can be raised about the generalizability of the data base.