Adoption Experiences of
Women and Men and Demand for Children to Adopt by Women 18-44 Years of Age
in the United States, 2002.
Series 23, Number 27. 45 pp.
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U.S. men aged 18-44 years are
more than twice as likely as women of the same age group to have adopted a
child, according to a new report released today by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS).
The data come from the 2002
National Survey of Family Growth, conducted by NCHS. Some of the findings in
the report includes:
Among
ever-married persons, men were more than 2.5 times as likely as women to
have adopted -- 3.8 percent compared with 1.4 percent.
Overall,
2.3 percent of all men had ever adopted a child, compared with 1.1 percent of
women. This equates to nearly 1.3 million men and 613,000 women. Though the
new report does not provide conclusive data as to why more men adopt than
women, the author of the study points out that the reasons are likely
related to the fact that there are greater opportunities for men to adopt
their stepchildren than for women, mainly because of post-divorce living
arrangements.
Over
one in four women aged 40-44 years who had ever used infertility services had
adopted a child.
Though
never-married adults aged 18-44 years were significantly less likely to have
adopted a child compared with those who were currently married,
approximately 100,000 never-married women and 73,000 never-married men had
adopted a child.
Hispanic
and non-Hispanic black women were more likely to be currently seeking to
adopt a child, compared with non-Hispanic white women.