Past research indicates that children who are adopted are more likely to live with two married parents than their peers, whereas children with disabilities are less likely to live in this family structure. However, few of these studies employed representative data and none examined how adoption and disability interact in their relationship to family structure. Using 2018 American Community Survey data (n = 3,125,485 children), we employed logistic regression models to predict the odds of a child residing with two married parents based on the child’s adoption status, disability status, and the interaction of the two. Our findings support the view that adoptive parents are a select group. Our interaction term shows that the negative relationship between disability status and living with two married parents was significantly weaker for children who were adopted than those who were not, suggesting that adoption is protective for children with disabilities. We also found, however, that adopted children with disabilities were significantly less likely to live with two married parents than adopted children without disabilities. This finding supports a cumulative stress perspective among parents who adopt children with disabilities. Further supporting cumulative stress theories, we found that adopted children with disabilities (n = 7661) in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups were less likely to reside with two married parents than their counterparts. These findings suggest that while adoptive parents are a select group, there is important heterogeneity among them. Our findings also illuminate the greater need to support families who adopt children with disabilities.

过去的研究表明，与同龄人相比，被收养的孩子更有可能与两个已婚父母一起生活，而残疾儿童则不太可能生活在这种家庭结构中。然而，这些研究中很少有使用具有代表性的数据，也没有研究过收养和残疾在其与家庭结构的关系中如何相互作用。使用 2018 年美国社区调查数据 ( n = 3,125,485 个孩子），我们采用逻辑回归模型，根据孩子的收养状况、残疾状况和两者的相互作用来预测一个孩子与两个已婚父母同住的几率。我们的研究结果支持养父母是一个精选群体的观点。我们的交互项表明，收养的儿童与未婚的儿童相比，残疾状况与与两个已婚父母同住之间的负相关关系明显较弱，这表明收养对残疾儿童具有保护作用。然而，我们还发现，收养的残疾儿童与两个已婚父母同住的可能性明显低于收养的非残疾儿童。这一发现支持收养残疾儿童的父母的累积压力观点。n  = 7661）在社会经济弱势群体中，与同龄人相比，与两个已婚父母同住的可能性更小。这些发现表明，虽然养父母是一个精选的群体，但他们之间存在重要的异质性。我们的研究结果还说明了支持收养残疾儿童的家庭的更大需求。