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In 'Teenage Sex, Pregnancy, and Nonmarital Births,' Isabel V. Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, describes recent trends in teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births. Her main sources of data are the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP). Sawhill begins by describing the high proportion of children living in single-parent families and showing how this arrangement contributes to child poverty. Between 1970 and 1996, for example, poverty rose from 15 to 20 percent of all children. Virtually all this increase stemmed from the growth of single-parent families. Moreover, a shift in the composition of single parents, so that a greater number are nevermarried mothers, exacerbated poverty and welfare dependency. In the 1960s and 1970s, the growth in single parenthood was largely attributable to increases in divorce; in the 1980s and 1990s, however, the growth was largely driven by nonmarital births.

A study on the effect of welfare on family dissolutions, or children living apart from their parents, is discussed. Topics include the study design, exclusion of variables related to reasons for family dissolution, state proactivity in caring for children, time variation in welfare benefits, and the effect of differences in housing costs.

Research by Peter Brandon and Gene Fisher on the effect of welfare benefits on family dissolution is discussed. Family dissolution is increasing, but the reason cannot be determined with the available data.

Higher welfare benefits appear to decrease the risk of children residing apart from their parents. When economically deprived, single-parent families will reduce the number of children living with them.

Research by Peter Brandon and Gene Fisher on the effect of welfare on dissolution of child-parent living arrangements is discussed. Topics include the dissolution decision, the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data, future research directions, other factors affecting dissolution, policy issues, and the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Numbers single mothers have risen in the US, and this phenomenon is examined, as are the effects of different types of policies such as welfare withdrawal, and payment per child.

Households can be analyzed in terms of individuals within them, and children can be seen as collective goods. This helps explain an increase in female-headed households among people on low incomes. Sex ratios may also be important.

Using a longitudinal sample of eighth graders who lived with both biological parents in 1988, we estimate the increased risk of dropping out among students whose two-parent families experienced disruption over the subsequent 4 years. We differentiate the impact on school dropout of initial family income before family disruption from income change after the marriage ends. This approach helps to disentangle two interpretations of the relation between income and family structure. Our results suggest that both measures of income are significant contributors of the risk of dropping out for children whose families became mother only families. When income loss is taken into account, along with initial income and other family, demographic, and prior school achievement factors, there is no evidence of increased risk of dropout among children who began to live with a single mother during the 1988-1992 period.

This paper examines the demographic and economic characteristics of single-father families, with particular attention to public transfer receipt. Cohabiting and non-cohabiting single fathers are examined and compared to fathers in married-couple families. Estimates from the 1997 March, Current Population Survey (CPS) are featured. Selected trend data for 1984, 1989, and 1996 are also presented. The analyses show that single fathers earn substantially less than married fathers, have lower household incomes, are less educated, and are substantially more likely to be receiving public transfers. Further, the socioeconomic gap between single and married fathers has been increasing since 1984.

Research from 1969 to 1989 shows female heads of families have gradually increased income, largely due to greater work effort. Pre- and post-transfer income point comparison and further comparison with married-couple and male-headed families are discussed.

Children in the United States are more likely than ever before to spend part of their lives in single-mother families. However, researchers usually ignore the complexity of household living arrangements, [...]

The US welfare system does not encourage the existence of female-headed households for either whites or blacks. The study investigates how individual and state effects influence assessments of the effect of welfare benefits on decisions female-headed households. However, welfare program generosity is related to how the composition of population varies across states. Results of the study also show that an overstatement of the effect of welfare programs to family structure may have been made by earlier investigations.

The phenomenon of female headship in developing countries is analyzed using a structural model, with Jamaica chosen as the target country. Although most studies presume that female-headed households (FHH) are a result of problems in family relations, evidence from Jamaica shows that FHHs represent 42% of all households. Data indicate that FHHs are endogenous and significantly affected by economic factors.

Timely payment of child support orders can be effectively organized with routine withholding of the amount from noncustodial parents' income. Reformation of the system is needed to keep up with the changes in society. Appropriate implementation strategies with effective monitoring devices will make the system more equitable. The Wisconsin example of child support reform exhibits the economic connection.

In examining the economic status of single-parent families, the tendency has been to aggregate rural and urban families. This study examines the characteristics, income, and spending of single-parent families in the two areas separately using data from the 1990-92 Consumer Expenditure Survey. A significantly higher proportion of urban than rural single parents were never married. Slightly over one-fourth of single parents in both areas did not have a high school diploma. A significantly greater percentage of rural than urban single-parent families received alimony and child support, but a smaller percentage received public assistance. Before-tax income of rural families was significantly lower compared with urban families ($16,060 vs. $18,430). Housing accounted for the largest share of total expenses for both groups. A significantly higher proportion of rural than urban single-parent families owned a home, with 29 percent of all rural single-parent families residing in a mobile home. These results can give policymakers and professionals who develop programs targeted to single-parent families a better understanding of the differences in the two groups.

Social welfare reforms must take into account economic changes that have modified the labor market often to the disadvantage of mothers, especially minorities, when economic self-sufficiency is the reform's goal. Restructuring and downsizing have reduced the number of high-paying manufacturing jobs which have been replaced with low-paying service jobs that do not include benefits and are less flexible. Necessary improvements include increased minimum wage, equal pay and opportunities for women and standardized public assistance that allows for asset accumulation.

Single parent families are generally less economically secure than two-parent families and are less likely to have major assets such as a home. Mother-headed single parent families usually have the lowest income of all households because of the father's failure to pay child support and difficulty affording daycare to allow the mother to work. The increase in single parent families, whether headed by the mother or father, makes research into their economic well-being important.

The objective of this research was to examine the relationships between the dependent variable of work-family conflict (operationalized as overload, work to family interference, family to work interference) and the independent variables of gender, family type, and perceived control. The sample consisted of 1,989 single-parent and dual-income employees with children ages 6 through 12. The findings indicated that individuals with higher perceived control have lower levels of overload and interference. Women had higher levels of overload and interference than did men. Single parents had similar levels of overload and interference from family to work as married individuals.

This article investigates the feminization of poverty prior to 1960 by focusing on three factors that contributed to the increase in the propensity to form female-headed households and to the poverty rate among such households. Compared with 1939, households headed by prime-age women in 1959 included fewer adults, thereby reducing earnings potential. The earnings level at which such women formed independent households was lower relative to the poverty line; and although higher earnings allowed more women to form independent households, the increase was not large enough to lift some of these households out of poverty.

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.

This paper examines the economic fortunes of lone-mother families using the public use microfiles of the 1971 and 1986 Canadian censuses. The analysis shows that despite a 16 per cent increase in the real income of lone-mother families, the income gap between lone-mother and two-parent families widened appreciably over the 15-year period. Although real wages for both husbands and lone mothers rose slowly, a sharp increase in the labour force participation rate of married women allowed two-parent families to increase their total family income significantly. By contrast, demographic changes among lone-mother families served to limit the increase in total family earnings and slowed the rise of family income.

Many single-parent households in Australia rely heavily on both social security payments and child support. From 1 July 2006 to 1 July 2008, sweeping reforms saw significant changes to the [...]

The analysis of the relationship between the welfare benefits provided by the state, and the trends of single motherhood in the United States, is presented.

Family structure has an effect upon the materialism of family members.

This study describes demographic characteristics, incomes, and selected expenditures of two representative samples--male-headed households who pay child support and female-headed households who receive it. It also explores differences in the amounts paid and received. The analysis is based on data from the 1985 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Results show major disparities in the levels of living of these two samples, based on measures of per capita income and expenditures. On average, child support payments represent a small portion of both the payers' and recipients' incomes, suggesting that child support is not a major financial resource for children whose parents experience marital disruption.