When Stepparents Adopt: Demographic, Health and Health Care Characteristics of Adopted Children, Stepchildren, and Adopted Stepchildren

Abstract

This article compares adopted stepchildren to both stepchildren and adopted children to determine which group adopted stepchildren more closely resemble. Adopted stepchildren more closely resemble stepchildren in terms of the child's demographic characteristics, but more closely resemble adopted children in terms of household socioeconomic characteristics. Stepchildren tend to have better health than adopted children, and adopted children tend to have better health care than...