Little research has focused on the positive adjustment of emerging adult adoptees (Palacios and Brodzinsky in Int J Behav Dev 34:270–284, 2010). Given the developmental context of emerging adulthood (Arnett in Am Psychol 55:469–482, 2000), it is important to select an indicator of adjustment that reflects the associated ambiguity. The present study aims to provide empirical support for the construct of relational competence, or competence in one’s closest relationship regardless of relationship type (i.e., romantic vs. nonromantic) among emerging adult adoptees. Participants included 162 adoptees who had been adopted before the age of one in the United States through private domestic adoption in to same-race families. Relational competence was measured by adapting a measure of romantic competence in emerging adulthood (Shulman et al. in J Adolesc 34:397–406, 2011). Indicators of relational competence were coded from interviews in which participants discussed their self-identified closest relationship (White et al. in J Personality Soc Psychol 50:152–162, 1986). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the proposed model of relational competence was a good fit to the data and was invariant across relationship type and gender. No differences in relational competence scores were found by relationship type or by gender (all p’s > .552). Relational competence was positively associated with adaptive functioning (β = 0.325, p = .006) and negatively associated with internalizing (β = − 0.246, p = .035) and externalizing behavior (β = − 0.347, p = .003).

中文翻译：

---

新兴成人被收养者的关系能力：亲密关系中的能力概念化

很少有研究集中在对成年成年人的积极调整上（Palacios和Brodzinsky在Int J Behav Dev 34：270-284，2010）。考虑到新兴成年的发展背景（Arnett in Am Psychol 55：469-482，2000年），重要的是选择一种能反映相关歧义的调整指标。本研究旨在为关系能力的构建提供实证支持。，或与新婚成年被收养者之间关系类型（即浪漫与非浪漫）之间最亲密关系的能力。参加者包括162名被收养人，这些收养人在美国未满1岁之前是通过私人家庭收养在同种族家庭中被收养的。关系能力是通过调整成年后的浪漫能力来衡量的（Shulman et al。in J Adolesc 34：397-406，2011）。关系能力的指标是从访谈中编码的，在访谈中，参与者讨论了他们自我确定的最亲密的关系（White等人，在J Personality Soc Psychol 50：152-162，1986）。验证性因素分析表明，所提出的关系能力模型非常适合数据，并且在关系类型和性别之间是不变的。p > .552）。关系能力与适应性功能呈正相关（β  = 0.325，p  = .006），与内部化（β  =-0.246，p  = .035）和外部化行为呈负相关（β  =-0.347，p  = .003）。