A recent article by MSNBC raises an interesting question: how many parents in the U.S. are not certain who the biological father of their children is? A company that makes retail DNA tests says it is more than 10 percent of adults - perhaps more than 24 million Americans - have been involved in a paternity dispute at some point in their lives. But some experts say the number is much lower.

Identigene, the company that manufactures and sells home DNA tests, recently conducted a survey of 1,039 men and women. The company claims that in the survey, 12 percent of men and 10 percent of women said they had experienced a scenario where paternity testing was an "appropriate" move, suggesting that they had a child with uncertain paternity. Nearly 20 percent of those surveyed also said they knew someone who has needed a paternity test for their child.

But those numbers do not match up with statistics kept by academics. One sociology professor from Australia who tracks the number of paternity tests in Western countries said the rate in the U.S. generally stays within two to four percent of the population. That is a slightly higher rate than in European countries, where the population rates are between one and four percent.

The professor said the higher rate in the U.S. is probably due to higher rates of divorce, cohabitation without marriage and divorce in this country compared with other Western countries.

No matter how common paternity questions are, parents who find themselves unsure about who their child's father is are facing a potentially heart-rending situation. If necessary, a family law attorney can represent parents' interests in a paternity dispute, such as child custody and child support issues.

Source: MSNBC, "Paternity questions plague 1 in 10, DNA test firm says," JoNel Aleccia, Feb. 7, 2012