Recommends steps to fight child-rearing problems which occur in
single-parent families. School dropout rate for children; Increase in
out-of-wedlock births; Information campaign on the potential costs of
divorce for children; Child support from fathers; Government subsidy for
child care.
By
Sara McLanahan, published on May 01, 1996
SINGLE-PARENT HOUSEHOLDS
"I was a single mother myself for ten years. So when I first got
into this research, I wanted to demonstrate that single mothers could do
just as good a job of raising children as married morns. Unfortunately,
the evidence led me to somewhat different conclusions:
o The school dropout rate for children in single-mother families is
twice as high as the rate for children in two-parent families.
o Children in one-parent families have lower grade point averages
and poorer school attendance records.
o As adults, they are less likely to graduate from college and more
likely to become single parents themselves.
Out-of-wedlock births have been going up in the United States since
the 1940s. What should we do? There are three recommendations I believe
fundamental to any lasting solution:
First, we must do a better job of informing parents about the
potential costs of divorce for children.
Second, we need to make sure that fathers do not abandon their
children when they live in separate households. This means making sure
that all children with a nonresident parent, including children born
outside of marriage, have a child support award that is paid in full. We
do a good job of collecting income and payroll taxes, and we can do the
same with child support.
Finally, government must do more to help parents cover the costs of
raising children. All other Western industrialized countries provide
child allowances, and a few provide free, or heavily subsidized, child
care. I favor universal programs--available to all families with
children, not just single mothers, because the latter sends the wrong
message to poor parents who are trying to stay together, and it builds
resentment toward single mothers."
PHOTO (COLOR)
Sara McLanahan, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Princeton
University
Tags:
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child allowances,
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one parent families,
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payroll taxes,
photo color,
poor parents,
princeton university,
sara mclanahan,
school attendance,
school dropout rate,
single mother,
single parent households,
single-parent,
subsidized child care,
universal programs,
wedlock births
