Adult adoptees (n = 100) and non-adoptees (n = 100) were compared with regard to selfesteem, identity processing style, and parental bonding. While some differences were found with regard to self-esteem, maternal care, and maternal overprotection, these differences were qualified by reunion status such that only reunited adoptees differed significantly from nonadoptees. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that parental bonding and identity processing style were more important than adoptive status per se in predicting selfesteem. Implications for practitioners who work with adoptees are discussed.Keywords: adoptees, reunion, bonding, counselling, identity, self-esteem. Adult Adoptees 3Parental Bonding and Identity Style as Correlates of Self-Esteem Among Adult Adoptees and Non-AdopteesThe development of a healthy self-esteem is an important indicator of psychological adjustment, with self-esteem being related to numerous emotional, cognitive, and behavioral variables (Leary & MacDonald, 2003). Compared with those who have low self-esteem, people with high self-esteem tend to be less anxious and depressed (Battle, Jarratt, Smit, & Precht, 1988), less likely to use illicit drugs (Taylor & Del Pilar, 1992), more socially skilled (Buhrmester, Furman, Wittenberg, & Reis, 1988), and more likely to have a secure attachment style (Meyers, 1998). A related concept, namely the establishment of a wellintegrated identity, is also indicative of optimal psychological functioning (Waterman, 1992).Indeed for Erikson (1980), self-esteem and identity development were inextricably linked. He argued that "self-esteem, confirmed at the end of each major crisis, grows to be a conviction that one is learning effective steps toward a tangible future, that one is developing a defined personality within a social reality which one understands" (pp. 94-95).While all individuals have to grapple with issues of self-esteem and identity throughout their lives, adoption has sometimes been conceptualized as a risk factor that undermines healthy development in these areas. For example, adoptees often score lower than non-adoptees on self-esteem (Levy-Shiff, 2001), and numerous authors have argued that the process of identity development is longer and more complex for adoptees (Grotevant, 1997b;Hoopes, 1990). Not only do adoptees have to come to terms with their emerging sense of self in the context of the family and culture into which they have been adopted (Grotevant, 1997a), but those who reunite with one or more birth relatives have the added task of integrating their biological and adoptive identities. Thus, in any study investigating selfesteem and identity development in adoptees, it would seem important to also include family variables and reunion data. We have done so in the current study by including parental bonding and reunion status as two of the variables of interest.Adult Adoptees 4The current study has three main aims. First, we investigated the relationship between adoptive status and three psychosocial var...