Advice is one of those things it is far more blessed to give than to receive. ~Carolyn Wells
The Adoption Project Research Intern, Extraordinaire (henceforth, E.S. for short!) is currently using my lay theory* framework for an undergraduate research project examining responses from adoptive parents to an interview question asking them for their advice to prospective adopters. After a quick tour of various journal indexes, I see that there is lots in the literature on advice to and for parents (including adoptive parents). But there is not a lot about parents themselves as sources of advice for others. (E.S.: That would actually be a neat anecdotal stat to include in the introduction: Something about the number of advice books on amazon.com for adoptive parents.) This fact provides a clue about what an interesting and innovative research question this is.
Adoptive parents' advice to (hypothetical) prospective adoptive parents might give a quick but very vivid snapshot of their experiences as adoptive parents and their lay theories on adoptive family relationships. I have previously referenced one article that does discuss "advice-giving" in the context of people's lay theories. The article is not about parenting, let alone adoptive parenting. But often when you are exploring new areas, it is worth looking at articles that seem to be about topics very different from your own or that focus on an entirely different participant pool. This article is available on-line through the U's library system:
Lay theories of successful aging after the death of a spouse
Author: Bergstrom M J M
From: Health communication
Date: 2000
Volume: 12
Issue: 4
Pages: 377-406
Very similar to the interview question in MTARP, this study's participants were asked “Is there any advice that you would give someone else in a situation similar to yours?” According to the authors:
As a means of uncovering and explicating lay theories of aging, we investigate the advice a bereaved spouse would give to other bereaved spouses after the death of a partner. Such advice asking prompts participants to move from the “local narrative” (Bochner**, 1994, p. 21) of direct experience to generalized principles offered as guidance for others.
The major research question of this study involved comparing participants' responses to formal scientific theories about successful aging. The results were similar to other research on lay theories in that participants' theories were pretty eclectic, containing aspects of several scholarly theories simultaneously:
[M]ost of the examples reported earlier reflect multiple, formal theories of successful aging. ...The resulting lack of internal consistency is problematic for formal theories but is expected in lay theories. Future studies should recognize that older adults do have multiple, implicit theories of successful aging, and they do not appear to be troubled by resulting contradictions or inconsistencies. Our respondents’ most central meaning structure indicates that individuals currently coping with changes that must be met to age successfully recognize the importance of any one individual’s personal experience and meaning when adjusting to change.
While I do not think it will be necessary to do such a lay-formal theory comparisson in this project, I do think one interesting aspect of the project will involve looking at apparent "inconsistencies" in advice: including inconsistencies between adoptive mothers (as a group) and adoptive fathers (as a group), within each individual's narrative of advice, and between married couples. (Of course, "consistencies" will also likely be present and those will also be interesting to examine.)
The first step is to just determine the content of the parents' advice: What advice do they report they would offer to others thinking about adoption? In case anyone finding and reading this post is an adoptive parent, what advice would you give?
*Previous SITBB posts on the development of the lay theory concept here and here.
**Bochner, A. P. (1994). Perspectives on inquiry II: Theories and stories. In M. L. Knapp & G. R. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (2nd ed., pp. 21–41). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Further discussion questions:
1) What were the MTARP researchers' original intent in including the "advice" interview question? (E.S.: Feel free to ask Dr. G.!)
2) The article I discuss here talks about "successful aging." Do the authors provide any definitions for what constitutes success in aging? In our sample, what might some of the parents define as "successful adoptive parenting"? Is this different than "successful parenting, period"?
3) How might qualitative research be better able than quantitative research to capture the expertise of adoptive parents? In what ways might quantitative research be better able to do this than qualitative?
4) The article authors state that in lay theories inconsistent beliefs are not a problem for people--and are, in fact, to be expected. Why do you think this is? (To help you think about this, think of someone who might believe both of these sayings: "Birds of a feather flock together" and "Opposites attract.")