Date of Award

Fall 12-2020

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Dr. Elena Stepanova

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Dr. Lucas Keefer

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Dr. Tammy Greer

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Abstract

Attitudes toward Transracial Adoption, or TRA (i.e., White individuals adopting a child of a different race than their own) have been largely positive in a few experimental studies conducted, with only one study (Tinkler & Horne, 2011) employing an implicit measure, the Implicit Association Task (IAT). The current study has focused on assessing attitudes toward TRA families with Black versus Asian children using both explicit and implicit (the IAT) measures of bias. In addition, religiosity was tested as a moderator of the attitudes toward TRA adoption. It was found that individuals had much more supportive attitudes toward transracial families on the explicit measures compared to the implicit measure. Additionally, on the IAT, individuals showed a pro-White family bias. For religiosity, it was found that those who were more extrinsically religious had a greater preference toward supporting same-race families, while those who were more intrinsically religious showed more support for TRA adoption practices, but only in the Black Child condition, measured by the IAT. Implications of such findings are discussed in the context of the current adoption practices.

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