Adoption: A Strategy to Fulfill Sex Preferences of U.S. Parents

• In Event: 3581 - Section on Sociology of Children and Youth Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Children, Youth, and Institutions

Abstract

Evidence from the United States suggests that parents with same-sex children are more likely to continue childbearing because parents generally desire at least one child of each sex. We use data from the American Community Survey to examine if parents use adoption, like continued childbearing, as a strategy to fulfill their sex preferences. Our results support this hypothesis. Children who had same-sex preceding siblings were more likely to be adopted and more likely to be of the opposite sex of their preceding siblings. Further, our results suggest that adoption is most likely to be used to fulfill child sex preferences when preceding siblings are disproportionately female. These findings suggest that sex preferences and child sex should be considered relevant for studies on adoption decisions in the United States. It also points to adoption as an important pathway for parents to build their ideal family, which includes both sons and daughters.

Authors

• Ashley Larsen Gibby, Pennsylvania State University

• Kevin J.A. Thomas, Pennsylvania State University