Impact on DNA-Based Paternity Testing on Families

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As of 1999 there were 280,000 DNA-based paternity tests conducted annually in the US. This number is rapidly increasing both due to subsidies from the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). These tests are one of many ways that paternity is established for the purposes of establishing a child support order, but little is known about their direct effect on families. It is possible that a man's transition from uncertainty over paternity to certain inclusion or exclusion as the father of the child could dramatically alter both parents' behavior. Until more is known about the family context in which these paternity tests are obtained it will be difficult to isolate the behavioral effects triggered by the information contained in the test results from confounding background factors. How exogenous are the test results? This study will tabulate administrative data on 100,000 DNA-based paternity test subjects whose tests are performed by Orchid Gene Screen Inc. This company is by far, the leading vendor of paternity testing services to OCSE offices throughout the U.S. By assessing the race, age, region, referral source, and test result of these subjects we hope to better understand the descriptive demography of the U.S. population of OCSE paternity test subjects. To better understand the social and behavioral factors of test subjects we will conduct surveys from the mothers and alleged fathers receiving testing in 200 paternity cases from 4 Maryland counties. The survey will assess current level of contact with the child, pre-test expectations of test outcome, and SES independently for each adult. Test result data will be available for consenting subjects. We will alert all respondents of the potential for longitudinal follow up of child outcomes (funded by a subsequent R01). If social factors explain little of the variation in test results, then paternity test information could exogenously improve child outcomes. If better fathers are more likely to test positive in a paternity test then one may entertain skepticism that the test results actually change parental behavior.