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.
","abstract_html":"<p>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.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spadgenske, Lillian"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Elena Stepanova","Dr. Lucas Keefer","Dr. Tammy Greer"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z","subjects":["attitudes; transracial adoption; family; explicit; implicit; religiosity","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/784","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Elena Stepanova","Dr. Lucas Keefer","Dr. Tammy Greer"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spadgenske, Lillian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-10-10T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["attitudes; transracial adoption; family; explicit; implicit; religiosity","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/784"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["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.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Transracial Adoption"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Elena Stepanova","Dr. Lucas Keefer","Dr. Tammy Greer"],"dc:creator":["Spadgenske, Lillian"],"dc:date.available":["2020-10-10T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.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.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/784"],"dc:subject":["attitudes; transracial adoption; family; explicit; implicit; religiosity","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Transracial Adoption"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z"}