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Examined extent to which child support guidelines developed by states in response to Child Support Amendments of 1984 and Family Support Act of 1988 might increase child support awards and payments. Findings from three states suggest that new guidelines will increase child support payments by 47-54 percent and awards by between 77 percent and 88 percent. (Author/NB)

Through lecture and discussion this course will address issues relating to poverty, inequality, and opportunity with special, but not exclusive, emphasis on these phenomena in American society. The course will [...]

Criminal justice policies have resulted in millions of Americans being incarcerated over the past three decades in systems that provide little or no rehabilitation. This study uses a new dataset--The [...]

Using the 1991-1998 Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, we analyzed the determinants of college attendance rates and educational expenditure among families with children in Taiwan, paying particular attention to the effects of family structure and family income. The findings indicate that higher family income is consistently associated with higher college attendance rates and spending on education. Children in single-parent families have lower college attendance rates than children in two-parent families. Furthermore, single-parent families spend less on education. When family income is taken into account, single-mother families are not significantly different from two-parent families on the outcome variables. Single-father families, however, are estimated to have significantly lower college attendance rates and educational expenditure after controlling for family income. These results suggest that improving the economic security of single-parent families will increase their children's attainment in single-mother families but will not eliminate the attainment gap between children in single-father and two-parent families. Keywords: college attendance; educational expenditure; family structure; single-mother families; single-father families

This article examines the combined effects of welfare policies, child support enforcement, and labor market characteristics on the well-being and living arrangement of families. Findings indicate that limited welfare benefits, strict enforcement of child support policies, and good labor markets support cohabitation and marriage.

Issues concerning research on the births of infants to nonmarried parents are examined, focusing on the sampling process that was used to gather statistical and social information. Topics include choosing representative cities, representative hospitals, and value of the study for policy makers and community leadership.

Issues concerning welfare reform legislation under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 are examined, focusing on implications for the most vulnerable familes. Topics include important social questions, regarding financial and emotional resources of vulnerable parents, and an overview of recent research.

Previous research suggests that single mothers in the United States are less well off in a relative sense than single mothers in other countries and that overreliance on income-tested programs in the United States is the principal culprit for this disparity. We test these hypotheses using multiple regression analysis and data from eight countries in the Luxembourg Income Study. We find that cross-country differences in demographic characteristics, labor force participation rates, levels of public and private transfers, and the degree of income testing account for much of the difference in the relative economic status of single-mother families in different countries.