Marriage, Parenthood, and Child Development

The share of children in America growing up in single-parent families has tripled since 1950—from 10 percent to 30 percent. Children in single-parent families are three times as likely to live below the poverty level and, on average, they have a higher likelihood of poor academic performance and higher dropout rates from high school. Those translate into lower earnings in adulthood. And although it is very difficult to separate correlation and causality in these data, and hard to say whether single parenthood matters beyond poverty, there is no question that the associations are very strong. 

Today: What happened to marriage in America? How has the trend divided along class lines and contributed to the widening economic gap? Is having two parents actually better for kids than a single parent? What advantages does growing up in a married family actually confer upon kids?

In the research world, these questions aren’t partisan. They’re questions that can be answered with data. 

Resources from this episode: 

Books/links:

• Melissa S. Kearney The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind (Bookshop)
• Melissa S. Kearney on Honestly
• Philip N. Cohen’s critique of Melissa Kearney’s The Two-Parent Privilege
• Abby M. McCloskey