Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

Displacement, Identity And Belonging For Ibyangin: The Personal Journey Of Transracial Korean-Born Adoptees, Jason D. Reynolds, Joseph G. Ponterotto, Christina Lecker

The Qualitative Report

The present study examined the lived experience (erlebnis) of adult transracial, Korean-born adoptees (Ibyangin; Yngvesson & Coutin, 2006) raised in the United States by White families. Long interviews (McCracken, 1988) were conducted with fourteen young adult (age 26-30) Korean-born adoptees in-person or by phone. The study was anchored in the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm (Ponterotto, 2005) and utilized the phenomenological inquiry model (Moustakas, 1994) to explore the essence of the international transracial adoption experience. Two major clusters of meaning with additional subthemes were related to a) identity development, and b) decision to return to Korea. Limitations of the study are reviewed, …