Definition
STEPPOP indicates whether a person's father, as identified by POPLOC, was most probably not the person's biological father. Non-zero values of STEPPOP explain why it is probable that the person's father was a step- or adopted father. A value of 0 indicates no likely stepfather because (1) the father identified in POPLOC was probably the biological father or (2) there is no father of this person present in the household.
The codes for STEPPOP are as follows:
0 = Biological father or no father of this person present in household.
1 = Child reports father is deceased.
2 = Explicitly identified relationship (stepchild, adopted child, child of unmarried partner; stepchild/child-in-law).
3 = Age difference between father and child was less than 12 or greater than 54 years.
In cases where more than one criterion for a likely stepfather is met, STEPPOP will take the value of the criterion with the lowest code. See PARRULE for a description of the linking process.
Users should note that there are many stepfathers and adopted fathers in the population that cannot be identified with information available in the censuses. Therefore, STEPPOP will always under-represent their actual number in the population.
