American Families

Manning, Wendy D.; Brown, Susan L.

doi:10.1002/9781118374085.ch3

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In Ireland, around 40% of low educated mothers are single. In the US, single motherhood is almost as common among the middle educated as it is among the low educated, which corresponds to earlier findings showing that college educated American women are pulling apart from the rest by sticking to "traditional" family behaviors (Manning & Brown, 2014;McLanahan & Jacobsen, 2015;Härkönen, 2017).…”

Section: <<< Insert Figure 1 >>>supporting

confidence: 83%

“…The negative educational gradients of single motherhood have gained increasing interest among social scientists, not least because of the possibility that they can strengthen social inequalities between educational groups, by family structure, and among adults and children alike. The discussion on these trends and their effects has prominent in the United States, where educational differences in single motherhood and family demography more generally have been widely documented (McLanahan, 2004;Manning & Brown, 2014;McLanahan & Jacobsen, 2015), and low educational attainment has for long been highlighted a central feature of single mothers' disadvantage in the United Kingdom (Gregg et al, 2009). Yet increasing evidence is building regarding similar trends in other European countries and in Asia.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The prevalence of single motherhood remained relatively stable among highly educated women (below 10%) until the year 2000, but increased both among the medium educated (from below 10% to close to 30%) and especially among the low educated (from around 15% to above 40%). Later studies have complemented these figures by showing how the gap in American single motherhood prevalence between the highest and lowest educational groups has remained, while single motherhood prevalence has increased among mothers with middle educational levels, approaching the figures of the low educated (Manning & Brown, 2014;McLanahan & Jacobsen, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter?

Härkönen¹

2018

The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families

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Recent research on family demography and social inequality has paid attention to the divergence in family structures by education. This research has shown how single motherhood prevalence has increased markedly among the low educated, while remaining stable at relatively low levels among the highly educated. Because single motherhood is associated with a host of economic disadvantages, these trends can amplify social inequalities. In this chapter, I use data for 15 countries from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) Database to analyze whether educational differences in single motherhood increase single-mother poverty, and the poverty gap between single-mother and coupled-parent households. Single-mother poverty rates and the single-mother poverty gap would both be lower in the absence of educational differences in single motherhood.However, the importance of educational differences in single motherhood is conditional on how high single-mother poverty rates are in different educational groups; educational differences in single motherhood matter less when educational differences in single-mother poverty are smaller. I conclude that social policies should aim to reduce poverty among all families. As a 3 side-effect, educational differences in single motherhood would be less important in shaping social inequality.

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Section: <<< Insert Figure 1 >>>supporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter?

Härkönen¹

2018

The Triple Bind of Single-Parent Families

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Coming Out of the Penumbras: World Culture and Cross-National Variation in Divorce Rates

Wang

Schofer

2018

Social Forces

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Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

Cooper

Pugh

2020

J of Marriage and Family

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During the past decade, scholars continued to focus on how larger economic trends impacted families across the income spectrum. From income and wealth inequality to economic insecurity, the gaps between the haves and the have nots remained, and some widened during this period. The authors' comprehensive review found the following three major takeaways: first, the biggest economic divides run through families with children; second, low‐income families face concentrated disadvantage marked by insecurity and precarity; and third, inequality and insecurity shaped the “dynamism” of family life, including how families respond culturally and emotionally to economic changes, and how these responses unfold over time. They examine active areas of research, including parenting trends and the transition to adulthood. They also document a new scholarly emphasis on uncertainty and instability along with the forces that exacerbate or mitigate them, such as job quality, economic volatility, wealth, and incarceration. Research during the past decade focused on the experience and consequences of dynamism, reflecting not only the reality that families evolve but also that they face continual change in their economic, social, and political contexts. The authors highlight research investigating how families “do dynamism,” work that looks over time or offers in‐depth examinations of how families adapt to and cope with dynamism every day. This research reveals that inequality and insecurity are not only matters of levels and gaps but also ongoing matters of meaning‐making, identity, and feeling. The authors conclude by highlighting some strengths and weaknesses of these research streams and pointing out new avenues for future scholarship.

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American Families

Cited by 7 publications

References 33 publications

Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter?

Single-mother poverty: how much do educational differences in single motherhood matter?

Coming Out of the Penumbras: World Culture and Cross-National Variation in Divorce Rates

Families Across the Income Spectrum: A Decade in Review

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