Before I read this my instincts lead me to a similar conclusion, but it was only a reflection of my life experience. Somewhere along the way we have undermined the American family, made fun of the traditional approach. Even the massive move to two working parents begun in the 1960s lead to new problems and now the inability of most families to live on one income.
Has it all been worth it?
By Melissa S. Kearney
Ms. Kearney is the author of the forthcoming book “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.”
There has been a huge transformation in the way children are raised in the United States: the erosion of the convention of raising children inside a two-parent home. This shift is often not publicly challenged or lamented, in an effort to be inclusive of a diversity of family arrangements. But this well-meaning acceptance obscures the critical reality that this change is hurting our children and our society.
The share of American children living with married parents has dropped considerably: In 2019, only 63 percent lived with married parents, down from 77 percent in 1980. Cohabitation hardly makes up for the difference in these figures. Roughly a quarter of children live in a one-parent home, more than in any other country for which data is available. Despite a small rise in two-parent homes since 2012, the overall trend persists.
This is not a positive development. The evidence is overwhelming: Children from single-parent homes have more behavioral problems, are more likely to get in trouble in school or with the law, achieve lower levels of education and tend to earn lower incomes in adulthood. Boys from homes without dads present are particularly prone to getting in trouble in school or with the law.
Making the trend particularly worrisome is the wide class divide underneath it. In my research, I found that college-educated parents have largely continued to have and raise their children in two-parent homes. It is parents with less than a four-year college degree who have moved away from marriage, and two-parent homes, in large numbers. Only 60 percent of children who live with mothers who graduated from high school, or who have some college education but did not graduate, lived with married parents in 2020, a whopping 23 percentage point drop since 1980. Again, cohabitation does not erase the education divide. Neither does looking at the numbers across race and ethnic groups.
Essay continues in the
New York Times 9-16-23
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Poverty
Melissa S. Kearney
“Even if one thinks, as I do, that the United States should provide more support to low-income families with children in order to help children thrive and also to secure a stronger work force and future for our country, we will most likely never have a government program that fully compensates single parents with the equivalent of the annual earnings of a spouse who works full-time.”
“…to secure a stronger work force and future for our country,…”
Enlightened self interest.
………….
Poverty is a common denominator. It’s not the only reason two parent families raise more successful children, but it’s a big one. But what if poverty is the –cause– of more single parent households, or one of the causes? Do other nations have less poverty because they have fewer single parent households, or do they have fewer single parents –because– they have less poverty, i.e., social programs, income redistribution, etc.?
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Stephen,
You pose some good questions about cause and effect. That said, I believe that it’s the overall social support system that’s the significant variable. That social support system is mainly the extended family.
I find this quote to be scary: “….we will most likely never have a government program that fully compensates single parents with the equivalent of the annual earnings of a spouse who works full-time.” Thank god for that.
People need a hand up – not a hand out – as the saying goes. I know from personal experience. My mother was on welfare for a short period of time after getting divorced. She had 4 young children and my father did not fully live up to his obligations. Fortunately, we pulled through.
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Make America Great Again
I could not access the NYT article, but searching Melissa S. Kearney, I see she is an economist, and wonder why she mentions “class” as in college graduates, but not as in high or low income. I do believe she has addressed that in her other work.
I have only anecdotal evidence, but I recall numerous incidents in the good old days when it wasn’t so good for the wives/mothers. “I make the money, I make the decisions!”
My parents showed me a different example, and I followed it with my wife.
Not saying that throwing money at the problem is the best answer, but wonder if the data shows that the problems are more serious with poor single parents than with richer ones.
Vivek Ramaswamy
“The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to man.”
I don’t think the answer is quite so simple.
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I have to agree with the other posters. This situation has grown up since the 1960’s and is well known. I don’t see any benefit to trying to tie it to college grads versus the rest. It’s a much more complex problem that many don’t even see as a problem and no one has any idea as to how to reverse course.
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The author writes: “ the erosion of the convention of raising children inside a two-parent home. This shift is often not publicly challenged or lamented, in an effort to be inclusive of a diversity of family arrangements”.
Inclusiveness has gone way too broad to accept behavior that is detrimental to personal health. It seems just about anything goes in the woke culture.
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I don’t see this trend getting reversed. Having children out of wedlock has been normalized, and you’re not going to see a significant drop in the divorce rate. Couples don’t stay together for the “sake of the kids.” Our culture has changed.
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The commentary you show below- I had just seen it yesterday on the Freakonomics podcast. I will admit that instead of listening to it, I opted to go to the transcript and read the entire thing. Dr Kearny was hoping her book would begin some conversations on this topic, and thankfully you are exposing it to a lot more eyeballs than would normally access this research. Smith Smallwood
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