Predictors of the likelihood of adoption among U.S. women by race and ethnicity

This thesis utilizes a series of seven logistic regression models to examine thepredictors of the likelihood of adoption among U.S. women based on the NationalSurvey of Family Growth, Cycle 6. The individual characteristics that have been foundmost influential in determining adoption behavior in past studies were examined,including age at the time of the interview, parity, fecundity status, and socioeconomicstatus. A special focus was placed upon the relationship between the race and ethnicityof a woman and her adoption behavior, which has received limited attention in theadoption literature.The results of this analysis suggest that the main determinants of adoption areundergoing change. While findings on the relationship between a woman’s age and herlikelihood of adoption are consistent with past research, the relationships of parity,marital status, fecundity status and socioeconomic status with adoption behavior eachexhibit surprising developments. Additionally, the results of this analysis reveal thatrace and ethnicity are important variables in terms of the adoption behavior of U.S.women. The implications of these results, as well as the need for more comprehensiveadoption data, are also discussed.