Female-Headed Households: Impact of Family Structure on Quarterly Expenditures for Clothing

Abstract

This research analyzes the impact of family structure (female headed without spouse present and two parent) on individual household member expenditures for clothing. Quarterly clothing expenditure data from the 1985 Consumer Expenditure Survey were analyzed via Tobit. Each family type was analyzed separately, and within each subsample, expenditures for women's, girls', boys', and infants' clothing were estimated. For each explanatory variable in the model, significance of expenditure differences between family structures was tested. Magnitudes and significance of effects by family structure differed, and significance of the difference between the values obtained for each family type also varied between explanatory variables. Often thought of as nontraditional, female-headed households are a fast-growing segment of our society. Information as to how they differ from traditional two-parent households in the retail clothing market will contribute to our understanding of these families and help to complete the picture of their expenditure behavior.