Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162231156291
A. Sullivan, Chan-Byoung Park
The federal government awarded $115 million to local entities between 2015 and 2018 for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs to treat opioid use disorder. These programs integrate the use of medications with counseling and behavioral therapies to reduce withdrawal symptoms and other adverse, individual-level effects of opioid misuse. Mounting evidence shows the benefits of MAT interventions among individuals, but little is known of whether these programs have prosocial, community-level effects. We examine the effect of MAT programs on one such community-level outcome: homelessness. Our event study design shows that MAT grants did not have a discernable relationship to homelessness at the community level; and we argue that while MAT may be an effective approach to treating opioid use disorder among individuals, more must be done to scale up its effects of these programs on community-level outcomes like homelessness.
{"title":"Do Federal Grants for Medication-Assisted Opioid Treatment Reduce Homelessness?","authors":"A. Sullivan, Chan-Byoung Park","doi":"10.1177/00027162231156291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231156291","url":null,"abstract":"The federal government awarded $115 million to local entities between 2015 and 2018 for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs to treat opioid use disorder. These programs integrate the use of medications with counseling and behavioral therapies to reduce withdrawal symptoms and other adverse, individual-level effects of opioid misuse. Mounting evidence shows the benefits of MAT interventions among individuals, but little is known of whether these programs have prosocial, community-level effects. We examine the effect of MAT programs on one such community-level outcome: homelessness. Our event study design shows that MAT grants did not have a discernable relationship to homelessness at the community level; and we argue that while MAT may be an effective approach to treating opioid use disorder among individuals, more must be done to scale up its effects of these programs on community-level outcomes like homelessness.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47238254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221120758
Susan Harkness
I examine how single motherhood affects income in different quantiles of the distribution in twelve rich countries. Using harmonized data from the Luxembourg Income Study, I show how the distribution of income for households headed by single mothers differs from households with children that are headed by couples. I show that there is a striking variation by country in the influence of single motherhood on income at different points of the distribution. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, single motherhood has a greater effect on income at the top of the distribution than at the bottom. In others, such as the United States, effects are largest at the bottom of the distribution. I discuss the role of employment and social policies in driving differences between countries in the income penalties associated with single motherhood across the distribution.
{"title":"Single Mothers’ Income in Twelve Rich Countries: Differences in Disadvantage across the Distribution","authors":"Susan Harkness","doi":"10.1177/00027162221120758","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221120758","url":null,"abstract":"I examine how single motherhood affects income in different quantiles of the distribution in twelve rich countries. Using harmonized data from the Luxembourg Income Study, I show how the distribution of income for households headed by single mothers differs from households with children that are headed by couples. I show that there is a striking variation by country in the influence of single motherhood on income at different points of the distribution. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, single motherhood has a greater effect on income at the top of the distribution than at the bottom. In others, such as the United States, effects are largest at the bottom of the distribution. I discuss the role of employment and social policies in driving differences between countries in the income penalties associated with single motherhood across the distribution.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47126320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221133250
J. Gornick, Laurie C. Maldonado, Amanda Sheely
For the last 100 years, single-parent families in the United States have captured the attention of policy-makers, political actors, and social reformers. Although the national discourse has shifted over time, one theme has been constant: the absence of the second parent, nearly always the father, places single-parent families at risk of economic insecurity and material hardship. Before the Second World War, it was widely assumed that mothers did not, and should not, work outside the home. Thus, the absent father implied the loss of the main or only family breadwinner, leaving the single mother and her children deserving of various forms of support, including the public provision of income. In subsequent years, a crucial change unfolded: single mothers were increasingly expected, and eventually pushed, into paid work. Their status as deserving of publicly provided supports diminished over time. Nevertheless, it remained understood, and it still does today, that a single breadwinner's earnings are often not sufficient to secure a family's economic well-being, especially when that single breadwinner is a woman.Indeed, in the United States, it is well documented that single-parent families are much more likely to be poor than are families headed by couples;likewise, single-parent families headed by women are at greater risk of poverty than those headed by men. Today, about one in three single-mother families in the United States lives in income poverty (Wimer et al. 2021);and for many of these families, income poverty is compounded by food insecurity (Sheely 2022) and precarious housing (Edin and Shaefer 2015;Desmond 2016). Recently, it has been documented that single-parent families have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to both unexpected earnings losses and heightened demands on parents' time.The difficulties faced by many single-parent families raise a multitude of concerns, perhaps none more salient or more compelling than child poverty. While poverty is evident throughout the lifecycle—affecting children, prime-age adults, and the elderly—poverty among children has particular resonance. Child poverty captures our collective attention for several reasons: it is widely held that children need and deserve protection from hardship, most children have no control over their economic circumstances, deprivation during childhood can have lifelong consequences, and some of the effects of child poverty have spillover effects. Child poverty in rich countries is especially compelling, because it is rooted not so much in scarce aggregate resources but mainly in distributional arrangements, both private and public.
在过去的100年里,美国的单亲家庭已经引起了政策制定者、政治行动者和社会改革者的注意。尽管随着时间的推移,全国性的讨论一直在发生变化,但有一个主题一直是不变的:父母中的第二位(几乎总是父亲)的缺席,使单亲家庭面临经济不安全和物质困难的风险。在第二次世界大战之前,人们普遍认为母亲不会也不应该外出工作。因此,父亲的缺席意味着失去了主要或唯一养家糊口的人,使单身母亲和她的孩子应该得到各种形式的支持,包括公共提供收入。在随后的几年里,一个关键的变化展开了:人们越来越期待单身母亲,并最终推动她们从事有偿工作。随着时间的推移,他们理应得到公共支持的地位逐渐下降。然而,人们过去和今天仍然理解,一个养家糊口的人的收入往往不足以保证一个家庭的经济福利,特别是当这个养家糊口的人是妇女时。事实上,在美国,有充分的证据表明,单亲家庭比夫妻家庭更有可能贫穷;同样,以女性为户主的单亲家庭比以男性为户主的单亲家庭更有可能陷入贫困。如今,美国大约三分之一的单亲母亲家庭生活在收入贫困中(Wimer et al. 2021);对于其中许多家庭来说,收入贫困因食品不安全(Sheely 2022)和不稳定的住房(Edin and Shaefer 2015;Desmond 2016)而加剧。最近,有证据表明,单亲家庭受到COVID-19大流行的打击尤其严重,原因是意外的收入损失和对父母时间的需求增加。许多单亲家庭面临的困难引起了许多关注,也许没有比儿童贫困更突出或更引人注目的了。虽然贫困在整个生命周期中都很明显,影响到儿童、壮年成人和老年人,但儿童中的贫困具有特别的共鸣。儿童贫困之所以引起我们的集体关注,有几个原因:人们普遍认为,儿童需要并且应该得到保护,使其免受困难;大多数儿童无法控制自己的经济状况;童年时期的贫困可能会产生终生的后果;儿童贫困的一些影响具有溢出效应。富裕国家的儿童贫困问题尤其引人注目,因为其根源不在于稀缺的总资源,而主要在于私人和公共的分配安排。
{"title":"Single-Parent Families and Public Policy in High-Income Countries: Introduction to the Volume","authors":"J. Gornick, Laurie C. Maldonado, Amanda Sheely","doi":"10.1177/00027162221133250","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221133250","url":null,"abstract":"For the last 100 years, single-parent families in the United States have captured the attention of policy-makers, political actors, and social reformers. Although the national discourse has shifted over time, one theme has been constant: the absence of the second parent, nearly always the father, places single-parent families at risk of economic insecurity and material hardship. Before the Second World War, it was widely assumed that mothers did not, and should not, work outside the home. Thus, the absent father implied the loss of the main or only family breadwinner, leaving the single mother and her children deserving of various forms of support, including the public provision of income. In subsequent years, a crucial change unfolded: single mothers were increasingly expected, and eventually pushed, into paid work. Their status as deserving of publicly provided supports diminished over time. Nevertheless, it remained understood, and it still does today, that a single breadwinner's earnings are often not sufficient to secure a family's economic well-being, especially when that single breadwinner is a woman.Indeed, in the United States, it is well documented that single-parent families are much more likely to be poor than are families headed by couples;likewise, single-parent families headed by women are at greater risk of poverty than those headed by men. Today, about one in three single-mother families in the United States lives in income poverty (Wimer et al. 2021);and for many of these families, income poverty is compounded by food insecurity (Sheely 2022) and precarious housing (Edin and Shaefer 2015;Desmond 2016). Recently, it has been documented that single-parent families have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to both unexpected earnings losses and heightened demands on parents' time.The difficulties faced by many single-parent families raise a multitude of concerns, perhaps none more salient or more compelling than child poverty. While poverty is evident throughout the lifecycle—affecting children, prime-age adults, and the elderly—poverty among children has particular resonance. Child poverty captures our collective attention for several reasons: it is widely held that children need and deserve protection from hardship, most children have no control over their economic circumstances, deprivation during childhood can have lifelong consequences, and some of the effects of child poverty have spillover effects. Child poverty in rich countries is especially compelling, because it is rooted not so much in scarce aggregate resources but mainly in distributional arrangements, both private and public.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42532739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221123446
Isabel V Sawhill
In the last 50 years, single parenthood has become more prevalent in the United States. As compared to other high-income countries, the United States does little to support single-parent families and they fare poorly as a result. This volume takes a comparative approach to extend our knowledge of the experiences of single parent families and the best approaches to support their well-being. By looking at the circumstances of single-parent families across many countries, this volume sheds light on important questions pertaining to child poverty and income inequality, the role of public assistance in supporting single-parent families, and the impact of this assistance on employment and marriage. In this article, I summarize the authors’ contributions in addressing these questions and present my own perspective on related issues, including the impact of single-parent families and cohabitation on children. I end with highlighting what researchers can learn from this volume and how U.S. policymakers can apply these lessons.
{"title":"Single Parents in High-Income Countries: What the United States Can Learn from Others","authors":"Isabel V Sawhill","doi":"10.1177/00027162221123446","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221123446","url":null,"abstract":"In the last 50 years, single parenthood has become more prevalent in the United States. As compared to other high-income countries, the United States does little to support single-parent families and they fare poorly as a result. This volume takes a comparative approach to extend our knowledge of the experiences of single parent families and the best approaches to support their well-being. By looking at the circumstances of single-parent families across many countries, this volume sheds light on important questions pertaining to child poverty and income inequality, the role of public assistance in supporting single-parent families, and the impact of this assistance on employment and marriage. In this article, I summarize the authors’ contributions in addressing these questions and present my own perspective on related issues, including the impact of single-parent families and cohabitation on children. I end with highlighting what researchers can learn from this volume and how U.S. policymakers can apply these lessons.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42932813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221133682
J. Gornick, Laurie C. Maldonado, Amanda Sheely
This conclusion engages two questions catalyzed by the articles in this volume. First, which policies are effective in reducing economic hardship among single-parent families overall and minimizing disparities across subgroups? Second, what are the prospects for related reforms in the United States? We draw four lessons from the articles in this volume and from prior research about effective policy design: (1) work-family reconciliation policies are crucial; (2) strengthening and stabilizing employment is necessary, but not sufficient; (3) it is important to support the accumulation of wealth in addition to shoring up income; and (4) policies can be designed to include and protect those single parents and their children who are especially at risk. Turning to the feasibility of policy change in the United States, we conclude that some factors—especially policy elements that encourage self-reliance, shifting public opinion, the COVID-19 crisis, and federalism itself—may enhance opportunities for policy development in support of single parents.
{"title":"Effective Policies for Single-Parent Families and Prospects for Policy Reforms in the United States: Concluding Reflections","authors":"J. Gornick, Laurie C. Maldonado, Amanda Sheely","doi":"10.1177/00027162221133682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221133682","url":null,"abstract":"This conclusion engages two questions catalyzed by the articles in this volume. First, which policies are effective in reducing economic hardship among single-parent families overall and minimizing disparities across subgroups? Second, what are the prospects for related reforms in the United States? We draw four lessons from the articles in this volume and from prior research about effective policy design: (1) work-family reconciliation policies are crucial; (2) strengthening and stabilizing employment is necessary, but not sufficient; (3) it is important to support the accumulation of wealth in addition to shoring up income; and (4) policies can be designed to include and protect those single parents and their children who are especially at risk. Turning to the feasibility of policy change in the United States, we conclude that some factors—especially policy elements that encourage self-reliance, shifting public opinion, the COVID-19 crisis, and federalism itself—may enhance opportunities for policy development in support of single parents.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45756253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221120760
T. Biegert, David Brady, L. Hipp
Reform of the U.S. welfare system in 1996 spurred claims that cuts to welfare programs effectively incentivized single mothers to find employment. It is difficult to assess the veracity of those claims, however, absent evidence of how the relationship between welfare benefits and single mother employment generalizes across countries. This study combines data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and the U.S. Current Population Survey (1992-2015) into one of the largest samples of single mothers ever, testing the relationships between welfare generosity and single mothers’ employment and work hours. We find no consistent evidence of a negative relationship between welfare generosity and single mother employment outcomes. Rather, we find tremendous cross-national heterogeneity, which does not clearly correspond to well-known institutional variations. Our findings demonstrate the limitations of single country studies and the pervasive, salient interactions between institutional contexts and social policies.
{"title":"Cross-National Variation in the Relationship between Welfare Generosity and Single Mother Employment","authors":"T. Biegert, David Brady, L. Hipp","doi":"10.1177/00027162221120760","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221120760","url":null,"abstract":"Reform of the U.S. welfare system in 1996 spurred claims that cuts to welfare programs effectively incentivized single mothers to find employment. It is difficult to assess the veracity of those claims, however, absent evidence of how the relationship between welfare benefits and single mother employment generalizes across countries. This study combines data from the European Union Labour Force Survey and the U.S. Current Population Survey (1992-2015) into one of the largest samples of single mothers ever, testing the relationships between welfare generosity and single mothers’ employment and work hours. We find no consistent evidence of a negative relationship between welfare generosity and single mother employment outcomes. Rather, we find tremendous cross-national heterogeneity, which does not clearly correspond to well-known institutional variations. Our findings demonstrate the limitations of single country studies and the pervasive, salient interactions between institutional contexts and social policies.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46302485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221119959
M. Hakovirta, Laura Cuesta, Mari Haapanen, D. Meyer
We provide an overview of child support policy in high-income countries, highlighting differences in institutional arrangements, the amount of child support due, and the amount of child support received. We show that the United States expects high levels of child support from nonresident parents when compared to other countries, that noncompliance is a problem across countries, and that most European countries deal with nonpayment of child support by providing guarantees of public support for children and resident parents. The guarantee schemes vary in terms of eligibility and generosity. Throughout, we find that child support policy approaches differ across countries. A key policy implication from this review is that the United States may be expecting too much child support from nonresident parents and that it could consider guaranteeing a modest amount of public support to single-parent households.
{"title":"Child Support Policy across High-Income Countries: Similar Problems, Different Approaches","authors":"M. Hakovirta, Laura Cuesta, Mari Haapanen, D. Meyer","doi":"10.1177/00027162221119959","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221119959","url":null,"abstract":"We provide an overview of child support policy in high-income countries, highlighting differences in institutional arrangements, the amount of child support due, and the amount of child support received. We show that the United States expects high levels of child support from nonresident parents when compared to other countries, that noncompliance is a problem across countries, and that most European countries deal with nonpayment of child support by providing guarantees of public support for children and resident parents. The guarantee schemes vary in terms of eligibility and generosity. Throughout, we find that child support policy approaches differ across countries. A key policy implication from this review is that the United States may be expecting too much child support from nonresident parents and that it could consider guaranteeing a modest amount of public support to single-parent households.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46112706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221122682
Zachary Parolin, Emma K Lee
Single-parent families have historically faced greater economic precarity relative to other family types in the United States. We investigate how and whether those disparities widened after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data on exposure to school and childcare center closures, unemployment, poverty, food hardship, and frequent worrying among single-parent families versus two-parent families throughout 2020 and 2021, we find that the challenges that single parents faced prior to the pandemic generally magnified after the arrival of COVID-19. In April 2020, one in four single parents was unemployed, and unemployment rates recovered more slowly for single parents throughout 2021, perhaps in part due to their unequal exposure to school and childcare closures. The expansion of income transfers largely buffered against potential increases in poverty and hardship, but levels of worrying among single parents continued to worsen throughout 2021.
{"title":"Economic Precarity among Single Parents in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic.","authors":"Zachary Parolin, Emma K Lee","doi":"10.1177/00027162221122682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221122682","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Single-parent families have historically faced greater economic precarity relative to other family types in the United States. We investigate how and whether those disparities widened after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data on exposure to school and childcare center closures, unemployment, poverty, food hardship, and frequent worrying among single-parent families versus two-parent families throughout 2020 and 2021, we find that the challenges that single parents faced prior to the pandemic generally magnified after the arrival of COVID-19. In April 2020, one in four single parents was unemployed, and unemployment rates recovered more slowly for single parents throughout 2021, perhaps in part due to their unequal exposure to school and childcare closures. The expansion of income transfers largely buffered against potential increases in poverty and hardship, but levels of worrying among single parents continued to worsen throughout 2021.</p>","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9716188/pdf/10.1177_00027162221122682.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10368149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221120759
Regina S. Baker
Empirical studies link high racial inequality in U.S. child poverty to the higher prevalence of single motherhood among certain racial groups. But a growing literature is demonstrating how the impact of single parenthood and family structure on children varies by racial group, including evidence that Black children experience smaller single motherhood “penalties” for some outcomes, like education. I use Luxembourg Income Study data for the United States from 1995 to 2018 to further investigations of ethno-racial variation in single motherhood penalties for child poverty. I provide a descriptive portrait of the levels and trends of children living in single-mother households and of the poverty penalties associated with children living in such households. I also show that, on average, Black children experience smaller penalties from single motherhood and Latino children experience larger penalties, both compared to White children. I conclude with discussion of potential reasons for this variation and future directions for research.
{"title":"Ethno-Racial Variation in Single Motherhood Prevalences and Penalties for Child Poverty in the United States, 1995–2018","authors":"Regina S. Baker","doi":"10.1177/00027162221120759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221120759","url":null,"abstract":"Empirical studies link high racial inequality in U.S. child poverty to the higher prevalence of single motherhood among certain racial groups. But a growing literature is demonstrating how the impact of single parenthood and family structure on children varies by racial group, including evidence that Black children experience smaller single motherhood “penalties” for some outcomes, like education. I use Luxembourg Income Study data for the United States from 1995 to 2018 to further investigations of ethno-racial variation in single motherhood penalties for child poverty. I provide a descriptive portrait of the levels and trends of children living in single-mother households and of the poverty penalties associated with children living in such households. I also show that, on average, Black children experience smaller penalties from single motherhood and Latino children experience larger penalties, both compared to White children. I conclude with discussion of potential reasons for this variation and future directions for research.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45057556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00027162221119348
Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Margaret M. C. Thomas, Alexandra Haralampoudis, Huiying Jin
This study examines the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children’s economic precarity. We use a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample of children in large U.S. cities and consider a comprehensive set of measures of the involvement of nonresident fathers in their lives. We evaluate both voluntary and involuntary (court-ordered child support) involvement of fathers, and we look at material hardship and income-to-poverty ratio as measures of children’s economic precarity. We find that only high levels of formal child support have a protective effect on children’s economic well-being, while fathers’ voluntary involvement (experienced by 70 percent of children) has a more consistent protective effect. Overall, policies to reduce children’s economic precarity need to focus on improving nonresident fathers’ ability to be involved with and contribute to their children, as well as on direct assistance to custodial mother families.
{"title":"Nonresident Fathers and the Economic Precarity of Their Children","authors":"Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Margaret M. C. Thomas, Alexandra Haralampoudis, Huiying Jin","doi":"10.1177/00027162221119348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221119348","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children’s economic precarity. We use a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample of children in large U.S. cities and consider a comprehensive set of measures of the involvement of nonresident fathers in their lives. We evaluate both voluntary and involuntary (court-ordered child support) involvement of fathers, and we look at material hardship and income-to-poverty ratio as measures of children’s economic precarity. We find that only high levels of formal child support have a protective effect on children’s economic well-being, while fathers’ voluntary involvement (experienced by 70 percent of children) has a more consistent protective effect. Overall, policies to reduce children’s economic precarity need to focus on improving nonresident fathers’ ability to be involved with and contribute to their children, as well as on direct assistance to custodial mother families.","PeriodicalId":48352,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44296987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}