Men's Financial Expenditures on Genetic Children and Stepchildren from Current and Former Relationships. PSC Research Report.

This article investigates differential investment by men in children by using a biosocial perspective to examine their financial expenditures on their genetic children and stepchildren from both current and former relationships. It uses a sample of 635 children age 0-12 years drawn from the Albuquerque Men Study 1990-93, which involved interviews that examined marital, reproductive, and employment histories and expenditures on children. This article also examines selection efforts by restricting the sample to men with children in more than one category (e.g., men with both genetic children and stepchildren in current unions), explaining that selection effects are important. Results indicate that men with both genetic offspring and step-offspring in current relationships invest similarly in children, but the differences between offspring from current and previous unions are greater when comparing men with children in both categories. The results are consistent with the biosocial model advanced in the paper. (Contains 73 references.) (SM)