Gender attitudes mediate gender differences in attitudes toward adoption in Guatemala.(study)

Women and men hold different opinions on a range of family issues, including the value of children, appropriate gender roles within the family, and attitudes toward adoption. Cross-culturally, studies show that women and men differ in their motivations for having children (Arnold et al., 1975); within the United States men regard increased social status, tradition, and continuity of the family line as more important reasons to have children than do women (Morahan-Martin, 1991). Furthermore, women see parenthood as more costly than do men (O'Laughlin & Anderson, 2001).

Men hold less favorable attitudes toward adoption than do women. A recent national survey of over 1400 randomly contacted adults in the US revealed that women were more likely than men to have considered adopting children, 42-35%, respectively (Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2002). In a Canadian study, more women than men agreed that adoptive and biological parents held the same feelings toward their children (Miall & March, 2003). Furthermore, transracial adoption is viewed more favorably by US college women than by their male counterparts (Whatley, Jahangardi, Ross, & Knox, 2003).

One trend in adoption is the increasing prevalence of international adoption, especially to countries in North America and Europe from countries in the developing world. Although there are many studies of international adoption, the bulk of the research in this area concentrates on the adopted child's adjustment in receiving countries; there are few studies from sending countries (Freundlich, 2002). Because international adoption may speak to larger societal issues within sending countries, it is important to understand the perceptions of those within the culture of origin. Specifically, it is important to understand the social, economic, demographic, and attitudinal circumstances that affect local within-country adoption practices (Silk, 1990).

The inter-country adoption policy embraced by UNICEF (see UNICEF, 2004) and many international NGOs is that the optimal strategy for promoting children's well-being is to provide support for families so that children can be raised by their own parents or by their extended families. If those options are not possible, then efforts should be made to place children with adoptive families within their own countries. If those efforts fail, one option is placement in international adoption. Thus, the policy underscores the importance of identifying barriers to within-country adoption that may be associated with the increased use of a less-preferable option, international adoption.

Guatemala is the source of many children adopted by international families; it is estimated that 98% of Guatemalan adoptions are international (Elton, 2000). Though it is the third most frequent "sending country" (following China and Russia), in terms of the number of children entering the United States, Guatemala is unique because a relatively larger proportion of its total population are sent to international families (see United States Department of State, n.d.).

In a recent study, a non-random sample of 23 Guatemalan adults from diverse socio-economic conditions were interviewed regarding their views about adoption (Wilson & Gibbons, 2005). The qualitative analysis revealed mostly positive views of adoption, both within-country and international adoption. The majority of the respondents were in favor of increasing the number of domestic adoptions, but they cited economic and attitudinal barriers to adoption within Guatemala. All of the women in this small, non-random sample indicated that adoptive parents easily accepted a child, whereas only one-half of the men thought this acceptance occurred easily. Some respondents speculated that this gender difference reflects the ideal of "machismo" in Guatemala and men's greater preference for "blood" offspring.

Though gender differences in adoption attitudes have been reported previously, a possible mechanism to explain this difference has not been tested. One such explanation is gender role attitudes. Attitudes toward and beliefs about the appropriate roles for women and men are related to a variety of other attitudes that people hold. Specifically, those who endorse more "traditional" ideas about gender roles (i.e., strongly gender differentiated roles, such as men as breadwinners and women as nurturers) are more likely to be strongly religious (Inglehart & Norris, …