Psychological adjustment in adult adoptees: assessment of distress, depression, and anger.

Psychological adjustment was assessed in a sample of 525 female and 191 male adoptees. Analyses were conducted by gender; by search status, i.e., those who had never searched, those who were searching, and those who had made contact with their biological parents; and by history of mental health service utilization. Compared to normative data, the sample reported significantly higher levels of psychological maladjustment; only women adoptees scored higher on a scale measuring anger. Overall, adoptees' scores were elevated but did not approach levels typical of outpatient populations.