Conclusions

This study looked at the relationship between perceived discrimination during COVID, psychological well-being, and adoptee and ethnic identity. Ethnic identity, perceived discrimination, and psychological well-being did not have any significant relationships with each other. However, ethnic identity is a significant predictor for collective self-esteem, while prejudice was not. This means that for adoptees who strongly identify as Chinese, Chinese American, Asian, or Asian American, and it is a core part of their identity, they will be more likely to have a higher group identity. This result fits into previous research done on the importance of group membership to a high self-esteem and social identity (Tajfel & Turner, 2004).

When looking at both integrated adoptees and unsettled adoptees, ethnic identity and perceived discrimination were found to be non-significant predictors. One reason that the variables could be non-significant is due to the differences between participants. Each participant has their own unique experience and journey in exploring their adoptive and ethnic identity. These unique experiences may lead to overall group differences, although the current study did not find statistically significant differences between adoptee identity groups. Thus, Hypothesis 2 was also not supported.

Because the adoptee identity questionnaire is a fairly new measure, I also looked at the differences between the adoptee identity groups. There was no significant effect of prejudice, ethnic identity, or psychological well-being based on adoptee identity. This means that those who identified in each adoptee group have significant differences between them and will experience different things based on where they are on their adoptee journey. In the interviews, many adoptees began to explore their adoptee identity during the pandemic after hearing stories about anti-Asian racism and hate.

However, each adoptee has their own unique journey in discovering their adoptee identity and each adoptee had different experiences during the pandemic as well. While there were no overall differences, there were still small differences in terms of the connection between ethnic identity and adoptee identity. Those who have a strong attachment to their adoptee identity and have explored this part of themselves have a stronger ethnic identity as well. Similar to adoptee identity, many participants in interviews also used the pandemic to explore their Chinese identity as well and how it connects to their adoptee identity. This included thinking about exposure to Chinese culture growing up, surrounding themselves with other Chinese adoptees, both online and in-person, and looking at more media that has Asian representation.

Previous research has demonstrated how racism and discrimination towards Asian Americans has led to negative effects on well-being (McDermott, 2021) and how racism and discrimination related to COVID-19 has led to negative effects on mental health (Litam & Oh, 2020). As shown by both the tables and the interviews, participants who perceived higher levels of discrimination were more likely to have a lower psychological well-being than those who did not perceive high levels of discrimination. Additionally, many of the participants in the interviews stated how the racism faced during the pandemic led them to have a worse mental health compared to those who did not experience high levels of discrimination.

Research has also shown how race-related stress, such as being discriminated against for being in a certain racial category, can harm adoptees’ overall well-being (McDermott, 2021). This is consistent with my second hypothesis in that adoptee identity plays a role in how perceived prejudice and ethnic identity predict psychological well-being. For adoptees who were less attached to their adoptee identity, prejudice and ethnic identity had a smaller effect on psychological well-being than for those who more in tune with that part of them.

limitations and future research

limitations

While my research supported previous research on Asian Americans, COVID-related racism, adoptee identity, and psychological well-being, there were still many limitations to my study. One limitation is that this study looked at purely Chinese adoptees rather than all Asian adoptees. Chinese adoptees may have different experiences than Korean, Vietnamese, or even Thai adoptees do in the United States. Because the COVID-19 virus originated in China, Chinese adoptees may have a different reaction to phrases like “Chinese Virus”. Additionally, non-Chinese adoptees who are also Asian adoptees, may have unique reactions to receiving COVID-related discrimination when it comes across as targeting only Chinese populations. Similarly, this study looked at international and transracial adoptees. There are many adoptees in the United States who are domestic adoptees, meaning they were born in the United States and adopted by a family in the United States. Asian adoptees who were born and raised in the United States, as well as Asian adoptees who grew up with Asian adoptive parents, may have completely different experiences than Asian adoptees who were born abroad and were raised by non-Asian parents.

A second limitation is that this study looked solely at adoptees in the United States. The history of Asian racism in the United States is a long one but is not exclusive to just us. There are many cases of Asian racism in other parts of the world and there are other adoptees in other parts of the world. Asian adoptees who live in Canada or in the United Kingdom may have had completely different experiences than adoptees in the United States during COVID. They may have had lots of discrimination or may have had none at all.

A third limitation is that there was a very small sample size, and majority of this sample size was female. Because this survey was online and was sent out through social media groups, it is always hard to gauge how many people will actually take the survey and finish the survey. Many of the data had to be deleted due to incomplete answers. The overall sample size was one participant from the G*power minimum. Moreover, the adoptee identity variable was categorical, making it difficult to equally distribute participants. All of the groups were well below the minimum needed from our G*power analysis (n = 26, n =18, n = 5, n =3). Additionally, all four of the groups had different sample sizes. This large disparity in sample sizes can also alter data analysis.

Because the study looked at Chinese adoptees in the United States, many of these adoptees will be female. This is due to the history of adoption and the history of China. With China’s One Child Policy, there was an increase in the number of female babies being given up for adoption. At the same time, there was an increase in the number of families in the United States looking to adopt a healthy baby. This gender imbalance may pose a large limitation to this study because males and females have completely different make ups and will react to situations in completely different ways. Having a more balanced gender ratio of adoptees may produce similar or different results.

future research

Many of the limitations discussed can be looked at through follow-up research. It would be interesting to see future research studies look at all Asian adoptees, both in the United States and in other countries, and compare the results. Moreover, it would be interesting to have a larger sample size of a more balanced gender ratio. Persons with different gender identities have different reactions to situations, maybe adoptees still have a similar reaction because they have that shared identity with each other.

Future studies should also look at adoptee identity more in depth. There is a large lack of research in the field of adoption, especially with adult adoptees. One of the difficulties of this study was figuring out how to look at the adoptee identity variable. If more people use the measure and look at these four groups more in-depth using different dependent variables, there will be more knowledge of what adoptees go through. This study only briefly looked at the identity of adult adoptees during a major world health crisis. More research is needed on more the everyday lives of adoptees. Furthermore, future research could look at the differences between adult and adolescent adoptees. There could be major differences in reactions to anti-Asian racism during the pandemic based on if you are still living with your parents versus if you are not.

In terms of family situations, studies could look more deeply into how cultural exposure to adoptees affects their adoptee identity. During the interview process, many adoptees used this time period as a way to connect more with their heritage and culture, especially for those who did not grow up experiencing it. It would be important to see if cultural exposure had any effects on psychological well-being when perceiving race-related discrimination.

Because COVID is such a recent development, and still an ongoing pandemic, it would be interesting to see future research about COVID and the psychological impacts of the pandemic, in populations other than adoptees as well. It was something that altered so many aspects of life including finances, occupation, and more.

implications and importance

As a Chinese transracial adoptee, this research is able to open people’s eyes to a perspective that is often overlooked, downplayed, or completely shut down. Many times, as adoptees, we are told by both family and friends, to be grateful for what we have and for the life we are given. When we try to discuss topics such as race-related discrimination, we may not always feel that we “fit in” or “belong to” the ethnic community of our birth country. I personally never felt like I could relate to the Asian community or the white community growing up. I was too in-between two cultures to find a place where I belonged. During COVID, this sense was heightened with the stories of attacks on Asian elders. I never grew up with Asian elders and I am not a multi-generation immigrant Chinese woman. I could never relate to the other Asians and Asian Americans fearing that their grandparents would be attacked walking down the street. Similarly, when events such as the Atlanta spa shooting happened, that took the life of six innocent Asian women, I had no words to describe how I was feeling. All of these racially motivated attacks were being committed by a community that I call family and by people that look like those I love.

This study not only shows how important ethnic identity is to psychological well-being when perceiving discrimination, but also how important adoptee identity is as well. If I was not in touch with my adoptee identity and denied the fact that I was adopted, I probably would have a very different reaction to Asians and Asian Americans being attacked and killed. It is important to realize that while we may not have ancestors who immigrated to the United States and faced exclusion, we are still a part of this community and discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans affect us too. We may not be “fully Asian” or “fully American”, but we are human, and we deserve to be heard just the same.