This report presents information on the receipt by women of support payments following divorce and separation. The report includes information on both the award and actual receipt of child support to women on behalf of their children and on alimony for their own support. Additional data concerning receipt and type of property settlement following divorce is provided for ever-divorced women.

The Bureau of the Census, under the joint sponsorship of the Department of Health and Human Services, first conducted a survey specifically designed to obtain data on child support and alimony in the spring of 1979. The survey, with minor modifications, was conducted again in both the spring of 1982 and 1984 by the Bureau of the Census and sponsored, in part, by the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Department of Health and Human Services. Data from the 1979 and 1982 surveys were presented in Current Population Reports, Series P-23, Nos. 112 and 140, respectively.¹ Findings from the 1984 survey are presented in this report.

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¹ For a comparison of the 1982 and 1979 surveys, see Current Population Reports, Series P-23, No. 140, the section entitled “Changes in the Survey."