Welcome to parenthood!? An examination of the far-reaching effects of perceived adoption stigma in the workplace

Abstract

While there may be no difference in terms of the love, care, and bond shared between parent and child, relationships created through adoption are often viewed less favorably in our society compared with those that possess a biological tie. Integrating minority stress and family systems theories, we seek to better understand working adoptive parents’ experiences and how the perceived stigma of being an adoptive parent negatively impacts a variety of work and family outcomes. Using a sample of 501 couples that adopted a child, we find that work–family conflict mediates the relationship between perceived adoption stigma and primary effects (i.e. job satisfaction and depression) as well as spillover effects (i.e. family satisfaction and parent–child bonding) for the job incumbent. Further, we find that the employee’s perceived adoption stigma also has crossover effects to their spouse, negatively impacting the spouse’s depression, family satisfaction, and parent–child bonding. Implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research are discussed.