Profile of the Householders of Adopted Children and Stepchildren
Living Arrangements and Age of the HouseholderSince Census 2000 relationship data were collected in reference to the householder, the living arrangements experienced by children can be analyzed by the presence or absence of a spouse or unmarried partner of the householder.
Table 6 shows that the percentage of adopted children under 18 who lived with two married parents (78 percent) was higher than the percentage of biological children (74 percent) but lower than the percentage of stepchildren (88 percent). This contrast can be predicted because most stepchildren when one of their biological parents remarries.
Although Census 2000 data cannot tell us if a single-parent
adoptions are increasing, data in
Table 6 present the current living arrangements of single parents and whether they were formerly married, or were living with an unmarried partner when the census was taken. The marital status and living arrangements of parents at the time of the census may have been different than when they adopted their children. About 5 percent of adopted and biological children under 18 lived with a male householder who had no spouse present.
For stepchildren, this percentage was 10 percent. The stepfathers of about 84 percent of stepchildren who lived with single fathers were living with an unmarried partner. These children may be the biological children of the partners of these men. Web sites for stepfamilies frequently refer to the children of adult's partner as his or her stepchildren.
The percentage of children under 18 who lived with a female householder who had no spouse present varied widely, from 2 percent for stepchildren, to 17 percent for adopted children, to 21 percent for biological children. Except for the mothers of stepchildren, proportionally few of these women had an unmarried partner. Just over half of the adopted children under 18 with an unmarried mother who had no partner present had a divorced or widowed mother. Five percent of the adopted children and 6 percent of the biological children under 18 lived with a never-married mother or father who was not living with a partner.
The lower section of
Table 6 shows the average age of the householder; and the age gap between the child and the householder, the spouse, or the partner of the householder. For children under 18, the householders of biological and stepchildren were, on average, 38 years old, while householders of adopted children were about 5 years older (43 years). This age difference is not surprising since the adoption process often takes time, and people who adopted in order to build their families tend to be older, especially if they adopted children after trying to have biological children. Adoptive parents who are also the biological grandparents of the child would tend to be older as well. Previous research has found that adoptive mothers also tend to be older.
Not surprisingly, adopted children under 18 on average had a larger age difference with their householder than did biological and stepchildren.
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Credits: CENSR-6
by Rose M. Kreider
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