Adoption and Adult Outcomes in the Early 20th Century

Modern research has found strong links between family structure and children’s outcomes. One of the robust findings is that stepchildren and adopted children have worse adult outcomes compared to biological children. However, we know very little about how non-biological children fared historically. In this study, by linking adopted children across U.S. federal censuses in the first half of the 20th century, we create a new dataset that contains rich information on both their childhood households and adult outcomes. To control for household heterogeneity, we also follow (non-adopted) siblings of adopted children into their adulthood. This unique dataset enables us to compare the long-run outcomes of adopted children and biological children controlling for observable and unobservable household characteristics. Our preliminary analysis suggests that educational attainment, income, and marriage patterns of adopted children differed significantly from non-adopted children. Overall, our study brings new historical evidence to the research on family structure. JEL classifications: I2, J1, N3