With ATUS data, is there any variable that allows you to differentiate between biological, adopted, and step children?
Yes, it is possible to distinguish between biological, adopted, and step children in ATUS samples from 2007-2023. In ATUS data from 2007-2020, the variables PEMOMTYP and PEDADTYP report the type of relationship between each individual and their mother and father, respectively. If no mother or father lives with the individual, they are coded as 0 for these variables. In ATUS data from 2020-2023, the variables PEPAR1TYP and PEPAR2TYP report the type of relationship between each individual and their first and second parent, respectively. If no parent lives with the individual, they are coded as 0 for these variables. The difference between the older variables and the newer variables is that the newer variables are meant to improve measurement of same sex families and nontraditional family structures. You can still determine the sex of the parents referenced in PEPAR1TYP and PEPAR2TYP; the variables PELNPAR1 and PELNPAR2 give the line number in the household of parents 1 and 2 of the individual, and SEX reports each person’s sex.
All of these variables are collected at the time of the last CPS interview. The ATUS sampling frame is outgoing CPS respondents, and there are a number of variables from the eighth and final CPS interview that are included in the ATUS data.
Thank you so much! Is there a way to do this from 2003-06?
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any way to distinguish between different types of relationships between parents and children in the ATUS data from 2003-2006. Respondents were asked about how many of their own children they have in their household, which is reported in HH_NUMOWNKIDS. IPUMS constructed several family interrelationship pointer variables, which link parents to children. However, these links are not based on self-reported relationships from respondents; rather, IPUMS links parents to children based on the household roster, age, and marital status, and does not attempt to determine which relationships are likely biological versus non-biological. While you may be able to use your own discretion to determine that some relationships are likely step-parents and step-children (based on the ages of the parents and the children), there is not information on this generally.
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