Parents' Sense of "Entitlement" in Adoptive and Nonadoptive Families |
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| Authors: | NANCY J COHEN PhD JAMES C COYNE PhD JAMES D DUVALL MEd |
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| Institution: | Research Director, C.M. Hincks Centre for Children's Mental Health/C.M. Hincks Institute, 114 Maitland Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1E1;Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto;Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, York University.;Professor, Department of Family Practice, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.;Director of External Training, C.M. Hincks Institute, Toronto. |
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| Abstract: | The literature suggests that problems with developing a sense of entitlement are unique to adoptive families, but this assumption has not been examined empirically. In this study, a questionnaire was constructed to define operationally those characteristics associated with the construct of entitlement, and was administered to adoptive and nonadoptive families with children averaging 11.5 years in age who presented either for mental health service or were recruited as a comparison-control sample. Factor analysis yielded four factors on which the four groups of subjects were compared. Results indicated that problems with entitlement are not specific to adoptive families. Instead, differences in sense of entitlement occurred primarily between clinic and nonclinic control families, regardless of whether the target child had been adopted. Findings are discussed in terms of methodological shortcomings in the adoption research literature and how problems in entitlement may be associated with other family characteristics. |
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