Adoption Studies Flashcards
Who conducted research on adoption?
Hutchings and Mednick.
When did Hutchings and Mednick conduct their research?
1975.
How many adoptions were studied and where?
Over 14’000 adoptions were studied in Denmark.
What did Hutchings and Mednick find?
That a significant number of boys with criminal convictions had biological partners (particularly fathers) with criminal convictions.
Why do researchers study adoption studies?
Adoption studies eliminate the effects of the environment because the adoptees are not raised in the same environment as their criminal biological parents.
What is one strength of adoption studies?
Adoption studies take away the influence of nurture because the adoptees and the biological parents do not share the same environment.
What is one weakness of adoption studies?
Using criminal convictions may not be the best measure of aggression because a vast number of violent acts do not result in convictions and some violence can be one-off.
What is the ‘contamination effect’ and why does it have to be taken into account?
This is the age at which the children have been adopted; a baby would have had very little environmental influence whereas a teenager could have experienced more contamination and may have learned the criminal behaviour.
