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Demographics of Same-Sex Couple Households with Children

Demographics of Same-Sex Couple Households with Children. Kristy M. Krivickas Daphne Lofquist U.S. Census Bureau Fertility & Family Statistics Branch Presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America - April, 1, 2011. Goals and Rationale.

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Demographics of Same-Sex Couple Households with Children

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  1. Demographics of Same-Sex Couple Households with Children Kristy M. Krivickas Daphne LofquistU.S. Census Bureau Fertility & Family Statistics Branch Presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America - April, 1, 2011

  2. Goals and Rationale • Examine distribution of multiple categories of children under age 18 in same-sex unmarried and same-sex spousal households • Describe demographic characteristics of households with children • Compare opposite-sex and same-sex couple households • Policy implications • One of first studies using nationally representative data of children in households containing same-sex spouses

  3. Past Research: Children in Opposite-Sex and Same-Sex Households • 2008 American Community Survey data • 415,000 reported same-sex unmarried • 13.9% of male-male and 26.5% of female-female contain children • Increase from Black & colleagues (2000) estimates • Same-sex couples - children from past relationship, rather than children from current relationship (Henehan et al. 2007) • Possibility that same-sex couple households more likely to have a non-related child

  4. Past Research: Repartnering and Children’s Relatedness to the Householder • Rapidity at which and number of times individuals repartner increasing over time (Cherlin 2009) • May lead to high numbers of step and/or combinations of biological and step children • Boundary ambiguity – who is in the family versus who is not • Possible confusion about how each child is related to householder

  5. Focal Hypotheses • Non-related children more likely to be in unmarried partner households rather than in married households • Non-related children greater likelihood of being in same-sex than in opposite-sex households • Exploratory examination of demographic characteristics

  6. Data and Methods • 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) • ACS replaces long-form of 2010 Decennial Census • Largest household survey – approximately 3 million sampled housing units • Internal data files – same-sex reporting status imputation flag

  7. Data and Methods • Analytic Sample • HH that have child 18 years of age or younger • HH that have non-related child 18 years of age or younger • Only couple HH • Analyses • Detail distribution of types of children, both own and non-related children, in multiple households • Describe demographic characteristics of each type of household with children

  8. Conclusions • Partial support for our hypotheses • Same-sex households would be more likely to have only non-related children compared with opposite-sex householders • Non-related children more likely in unmarried households versus married households, regardless of the sex of the partner

  9. Conclusions • Consistent with past research on boundary ambiguity among cohabiting couples • Tentative evidence – legally tenuous households less likely to claim partner’s child as their own child

  10. Conclusions • Only adopted/only step households significantly higher avg. household incomes • Financial and psychological costs • Among adopted/step only households, same-sex couples and married opposite-sex couples similar • Suggests adopted and step children at no greater socio-economic disadvantage • Possible advantage compared to unmarried opposite-sex

  11. Future Research • Who are these non-related children? • “Random” addition to household • More likely belong to partner of householder • What are consequences if a partner’s child is claimed as non-related? • Lower levels of parental support, higher likelihood of dissolution

  12. Future Research • Provide only descriptive, demographic baseline • Need relationship characteristics • Additional partner information

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