Authenticity Among Adult Transracial Korean Adoptees: The Influences of Identity, Thoughts About Birth Family, and Multicultural Personality Dispositions

Thoughts about birth family, ethnic identity, and multicultural personality were investigated as predictors of dispositional authenticity (i.e., Authentic Living, Accepting External Influence, and Self-Alienation) among adult transracial Korean adoptees. Participants (N = 80) were transracial Korean adoptees aged 21 to 56 years (M = 33.9 years) who were adopted into White families worldwide between the ages of 0 and 66 months (M = 5.7 months). A two-step hierarchical regression model revealed that 1) thoughts about birth family and ethnic identity predicted variance in authenticity; and 2) the psychological health factor of the multicultural personality inventory predicted variance in subscales of authenticity above and beyond the variance accounted for by Step 1 predictors. Limitations, clinical implications, and future areas of research are discussed.