The Spread of Single-Parent Families in the United States since 1960

Women's Education and Family Behavior

“…Ellwood and Jencks (2002) highlighted the fact that black women with less education have increasingly delayed marriage, yet have not delayed or reduced childbearing to the same extent. The result is a rise in out-of-wedlock births, which has happened for both black and white women with less education.…”

Family structure and wellbeing of out-of-wedlock children

“…While children born within marriage are generally found to exhibit better outcomes compared to their counterparts born outside of marriage, concluding that these differences are attributable to parental marriage may be inappropriate, as families that have children before vs. after marriage may be selectively different (Ellwood, 2004;Carlson et al, 2004;and Osborne, 2005). Our analysis of out-of-wedlock children produces no evidence that children born to cohabiting at birth and subsequently married biological parents exhibit significantly better outcomes than children born and raised within cohabiting unions-an environment experienced by 30% of the children in our sample.…”

“…Cross-sectional studies find that income explains up to one-half of the differences between children in single parent and two-parent families (McLanahan, 1985). While the extent to which family structure is a cause or consequence of economic hardship is still being debated (Brown, 2004;Thomson et al, 1994), it is well-documented that out-of-wedlock childbearing occurs more frequently among the low-income and less-educated population (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994;Hao 1996;Sigle-Rushton & McLanahan, 2002b;Manning & Brown, 2003;and Ellwood & Jencks, 2004). Children born into two-parent households will experience an environment where economic resources are more abundant on average compared to single parent households, and are hence expected to achieve better outcomes than children born to single parent families.…”

“…11 For example, given the greater prevalence of out-of-wedlock childbearing among the low-income and less educated population (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994;Hao 1996;Sigle-Rushton & McLanahan, 2002b;Manning & Brown, 2003;and Ellwood & Jencks, 2004), the association between unmarried parenthood and inferior child outcomes may be the result of differences in parental characteristics, rather than greater benefits associated with the marital arrangement.…”

Social Capital and Economic Development: A Neighborhood Perspective

“…Human capital accumulated through schooling and level of work experience are the biggest predictors of increases in income (Heckman, Stixrud, & Urzua, 2006). However, other factors such as personal health (Deaton, 2003), participation in illegal activities (Heckman et al, 2006), conducive family situations (Ellwood & Jencks, 2004), and access to transportation also are significant determinants (Hayaloğlu, 2015).…”