Impact on DNA-Based Paternity Testing on Families

描述（由申请人提供）：截至1999年，美国每年进行28万次基于DNA的亲子鉴定。这一数字正在迅速增加，这是由于儿童抚养执行办公室（OCSE）的补贴。这些测试是为建立子女抚养令而确定父子关系的许多方法之一，但人们对这些测试对家庭的直接影响知之甚少。一个男人从对父亲身份的不确定性转变为作为孩子父亲的某种包容或排斥，可能会极大地改变父母双方的行为。在对这些亲子鉴定的家庭背景有更多了解之前，很难将测试结果中包含的信息引发的行为影响与混杂的背景因素隔离开来。测试结果有多外源？本研究将对100，000名基于DNA的亲子鉴定受试者的管理数据进行制表，这些受试者的检测由Orchid Gene Screen Inc.进行。该公司是迄今为止，亲子鉴定服务的领先供应商OCSE办公室遍布美国通过评估种族，年龄，地区，转介来源，和这些科目的测试结果，我们希望更好地了解美国的描述人口统计学.人口OCSE亲子鉴定科目.为了更好地了解测试对象的社会和行为因素，我们将对来自马里兰州4个县的200个亲子鉴定案例中接受测试的母亲和所谓的父亲进行调查。该调查将评估目前与儿童的接触水平，测试前对测试结果的期望，以及每个成年人的SES。将向知情同意的受试者提供检查结果数据。我们将提醒所有受访者对儿童结局进行纵向随访的可能性（由后续R01资助）。如果社会因素不能解释测试结果的差异，那么亲子鉴定信息可以从外部改善孩子的结果。如果更好的父亲更有可能在亲子鉴定中检测出阳性，那么人们可能会怀疑测试结果实际上会改变父母的行为。

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.