Changing Social Background Pattern of Children in Adoption Institutions(the 4th Report).
- Author:
Hye Jeong KIM
1
;
Jin A SON
;
Jae Youn KIM
;
Don Hee AHN
Author Information
1. Department of Pediatrics, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Institutionalized children;
Social background;
Adoption
- MeSH:
Birth Weight;
Child*;
Child, Institutionalized;
Female;
Gestational Age;
Humans;
Illegitimacy;
Male;
Maternal Age;
Medical Records;
Mothers;
Occupations;
Parents;
Parturition;
Retrospective Studies;
Sex Ratio;
Single Person
- From:Journal of the Korean Pediatric Society
1999;42(1):115-121
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: A study was undertaken to assess the social background of abandoning children at adoption institutions. The results were compared to those of three previous reports from the institution. METHODS: A total of 536 children who had been admitted to the institution during the period of 1993 to 1996 were subjected to the study. The medical records were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: The sex ratio of male to female was 1 : 0.9, which was opposite compared to previous studies. Mean birth weight was 2.76+/-0.58kg. The proportion of prematurity was 27.2% and their mean gestational age was 34.0+/-2.25 weeks. The academic background of the mother was mainly high school, comprising 58.4%. The highest rate of maternal age(75.9%) was between 16 to 25 years of age. Maternal age below 15 years was 2.8%, which showed increased in tendency compared to previous studies. Classifying the mother's occupation, they were unemployed(19.4%), office workers(16.8%), store clerks(15.9%), students(13.6%), factory workers(12.3%) and waitresses (5.6%) in this order of frequency. The order of birth showed that the first baby was 89.4%. The reasons for putting their baby up for adoption were they were unmarried(83.2%), poor(8.6%), extramarital birth(3.2%), divorce(2.9%) and death of parents(0.4%) in this order of frequency, showing a significant increased in the rate of unmarried mothers. Only 38.4% of mothers had taken antenatal care. Most of the children (90.8%) were adopted by parents in foreign countries. CONCLUSION: The main reason for adoption was the mothers were unmarried and the maternal age tended to be younger. The rate of foreign adoption was still high.
