Adoption status and family relationships during the transition to young adulthood.

Although adoptive family research has increased, most has focused on childhood and adolescence. Despite the known importance of parent-adolescent relationships drawn from the general population, we know little about how adoptive family relationships change or remain the same as adopted adolescents enter young adulthood. Using the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study, the purpose of this study was to build on previous research to explore differences in conflict, closeness, and relationship quality between adoptive and nonadoptive families during the transition from late adolescence into young adulthood.