Promoting a culture of hospitality: what are the representations of the adoption today?

Abstract

In the last ten years in Italy, both the number of children in international adoption and the number of prospective adoptive parents have consistently decreased. The present research is aimed at investigating the social representations concerning adoption, adoptive parents and the motivations that can lead to adoption. The general aim is obtain useful information in order to develop specific awareness campaigns to promote a broader culture of acceptance and a more conscious readiness for adoption. We collected data from 265 parents through a self-report questionnaire. The results show that participants have a good knowledge of the adoptive phenomenon, mainly thanks to the media and a number direct contacts with adoptive families in the neighborhood and in the relative network. Adoptive parents were represented as couples without children, wealthy and generous, motivated by the desire to give a family to a needy child. It also emerged that the subjects, in case of lack of children, would have chosen to resort firstly to homologous artificial insemination and to adoption as second choice.

Keywords

• adozione
• rappresentazioni sociali
• fecondazione omologa