Demographics of Same-Sex Couple Households with Children
Kristy Krivickas, U.S. Census Bureau
Daphne A. Lofquist, U.S. Census Bureau
Limited research has looked at the distribution of multiple types of children residing in same-sex unmarried and same-sex spousal households. This paper specifically examines the sociodemographic characteristics of same-sex couple households with children, using the 2008 American Community Survey internal data files. We describe the distribution of type of children (biological, step, adopted, nonrelative, or a combination of types of children) across four household forms, married opposite-sex, unmarried opposite-sex, same-sex unmarried, and same-sex with a spouse. Then, we discuss the characteristics of the households containing each type of children. Our primary results show that a larger percentage of nonrelative children live in unmarried same-sex compared with married opposite-sex households. We also find that same-sex couples with only adopted or only step children have significantly higher incomes than both married and unmarried opposite-sex households.
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Presented in Session 112: Emerging Family Forms