Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Trends in the Economic Wellbeing of Unmarried-Parent Families with Children: New Estimates Using an Improved Measure of Poverty

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Population Research and Policy Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Children born to unmarried parents make up an increasing share of American children. But official poverty statistics provide little insight into their economic well-being because these statistics use an outdated definition of the family unit and an incomplete measure of family resources. Using Current Population Survey data and an improved measure of poverty, the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, we reassess long-term trends in poverty for children in unmarried parent families—those led by single mothers, those led by single fathers, and those led by cohabiting couples—as opposed to their counterparts in married couple families. We find that single-mother families have the highest poverty rates among families, both historically and today, but the improved measure shows much larger declines in single-mother families’ poverty rates over time. Single-father and cohabiting families also have high poverty rates, but those rates have also fallen by approximately one third since the 1960s.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ben-Shalom, Y., Moffitt, R.A., & Scholz, J.K. (2011). An assessment of the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs in the United States. National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Berger, L. M., & McLanahan, S. S. (2015). Income, relationship quality, and parenting: Associations with child development in two-parent families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(4), 996–1015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betson, D., & Michael, R. (1993). A recommendation for the construction of equivalence scales. Unpublished memorandum prepared for the Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance, Committee on National Statistics, National Research Council. Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame.

  • Betson, D.M. (2001). Imputation of medical out of pocket (MOOP) spending to CPS records. University of Notre Dame, Poverty Measurement Working Paper, US Census Bureau.

  • Bitler, M., & Hoynes, H. (2016). The more things change, the more they stay the same? The safety net and poverty in the great recession. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(S1), S403–S444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohn, S., Danielson, C., Levin, M., Mattingly, M., Wimer, C. (2013). The California poverty measure

  • Boskin, M. J., Dulberger, E. L., Gordon, R. J., Griliches, Z., & Jorgenson, D. W. (1998). Consumer prices, the consumer priceindex, and the cost of living. Journal of economic perspectives, 12(1), 3–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bumpass, L., & Lu, H.-H. (2000). Trends in cohabitation and implications for children s family contexts in the United States. Population Studies, 54(1), 29–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cancian, M., & Reed, D. (2001). Changes in family structure: Implications for poverty and related policy (pp. 69–96). Understanding poverty.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casper, L. M., & Cohen, P. N. (2000). How does POSSLQ measure up? Historical estimates of cohabitation. Demography, 37(2), 237–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casper, L. M., & Bianchi, S. M. (2001). Continuity and change in the American family. Sage Publications.

  • Chuck, M., & Huang, C.-C. (2012). Misconceptions and realities about who pays taxes. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

    Google Scholar 

  • Citro, C. F., & Michael, R. T. (1995). Measuring poverty: A new approach. National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danziger, S., & Moffitt, R. A. (2013). The great recession and the social safety net. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 650(1), 143–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feenberg, D., & Coutts, E. (1993). An introduction of policy analysis and TAXSIM model. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 12(1), 189–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, G. M. (1998). Setting American standards of poverty: A look back. Focus, 19(2), 47–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox. L. (2019). The supplemental poverty measure: 2018. United States Census Bureau, P60–268 (RV).

  • Fox, L., Wimer, C., Garfinkel, I., Kaushal, N., & Waldfogel, J. (2015). Waging war on poverty: Poverty trends using a historical supplemental poverty measure. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(3), 567–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fraker, T., & Moffitt, R. (1988). The effect of food stamps on labor supply: A bivariate selection model. Journal of Public Economics, 35(1), 25–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gans, H. J. (2011). The Moynihan report and its aftermaths. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 8(2), 315–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, I., McLanahan, S. S., & Wimer, C. (2016). Children of the great recession. Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, I., & Zilanawala, A. (2015). Fragile families in the American welfare state. Children and Youth Services Review, 55, 210–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garner T (2010) Supplemental poverty measure thresholds: Laying the foundation. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Price and Index Number Research.

  • Haveman, R., Blank, R., Moffitt, R., Smeeding, T., & Wallace, G. (2015). The war on poverty: Measurement, trends, and policy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(3), 593–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoynes, H. W., & Schanzenbach, D. W. (2012). Work incentives and the food stamp program. Journal of Public Economics, 96(1), 151–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoynes, H. W., & Patel, A. J. (2018). Effective policy for reducing poverty and inequality? The Earned Income Tax Credit and thedistribution of income. Journal of Human Resources, 53(4), 859–890.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutto, N., Waldfogel, J., Kaushal, N., & Garfinkel, I. (2011). Improving the measurement of poverty. The Social Service Review, 85(1), 39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iceland, J. (2013). Poverty in America: A handbook. University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Isaacs, J., Marks, J., Smeeding, T., Thornton, K., Ross, D., Brown, P., Tran, Q., Renwick, T., Burtless, G., & Malpezzi, S. (2010). Wisconsin poverty report: Methodology and results for 2008. Institute for Research on Poverty.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keane, M., & Moffitt, R. (1998). A structural model of multiple welfare program participation and labor supply. Internationaleconomic review, 553–589.

  • Lee, D., & McLanahan, S. (2015). Family structure transitions and child development: Instability, selection, and population heterogeneity. American Sociological Review, 80(4), 738–763.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitan, M., D’Onofrio, C., Koolwal, G., Krampner, J., Scheer, D., Seidel, T., & Virgin, V. (2010). Using the American community survey to create a national academy of sciences–style poverty measure: Work by the New York City center for economic opportunity. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 29(2), 373–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLanahan, S. (2004). Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition. Demography, 41(4), 607–627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLanahan, S., & Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing up with a single parent. What hurts, what helps. ERIC.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLanahan, S., Tach, L., & Schneider, D. (2013). The causal effects of father absence. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 399–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, B.D., Mok, W.K., & Sullivan, J.X. (2009). The under-reporting of transfers in household surveys: Its nature and consequences. National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Meyer, B.D., & Rosenbaum, D.T. (1999). Welfare, the earned income tax credit, and the labor supply of single mothers. National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Meyer, B.D., & Sullivan, J.X. (2013). Winning the war: Poverty from the Great Society to the Great Recession (No. w18718). National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Moynihan, D.P. (1965). The Negro family: The case for national action (No. 3). US Government Printing Office.

  • Nepomnyaschy, L., & Teitler, J. (2013). Cyclical cohabitation among unmarried parents in fragile families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75(5), 1248–1265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nolan, L., Garfinkel, I., Kaushal, N., Nam, J., Waldfogel, J., & Wimer, C. (2016). A new method for measuring historical poverty trends: Incorporating geographic differences in the cost of living using the supplemental poverty measure. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 41(3), 237–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pac, J., Nam, J., Waldfogel, J., & Wimer, C. (2017). Young child poverty in the United States: Analyzing trends in poverty and therole of anti-poverty programs using the Supplemental Poverty Measure. Children and youth services review, 74, 35–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Provencher, A. (2011). Unit of analysis for poverty measurement: A comparison of the supplemental poverty measure and the official poverty measure. Census Bureau. Retrieved August 2, 2011, from https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2011/demo/SEHSD-WP2011-22.html

  • Semega, J. L., Fontenot, K. R., & Kollar, M. A. (2019). Income and poverty in the United States: 2018. US Census Bureau (No. P60–266). Report.

  • Short, K. (2011). The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2010. United States Census Bureau, P60–241. Available at: https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-241.pdf

  • Smeeding, T. M. (1977). The antipoverty effectiveness of in-kind transfers. Journal of Human Resources, 12, 360–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US Census Bureau. (2019a). Historical families tables: Table FM-1. Families by presence of own children under 18: 1950 to present. US Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/families.html

  • US Census Bureau. (2019b). Historical living arrangements of adults: Table UC-1. Unmarried couples of the opposite sex/1, by presence of children/2: 1960 to present. US Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/families/adults.html

  • Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T.-A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child wellbeing. The Future of Children/Center for the Future of Children, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 20(2), 87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheaton, L., Giannarelli, L., Schiferl, M., & Zedlewski, S. R. (2011). How do states’ safety net policies affect poverty? Poverty & Public Policy, 3(4), 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. J. (2009). The moynihan report and research on the black community. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 621(1), 34–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wimer, C., Fox, L., Garfinkel, I., Kaushal, N., & Waldfogel, J. (2016). Progress on poverty? New estimates of historical trends using an anchored supplemental poverty measure. Demography, 53(4), 1207–1218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziliak, J. P. (2015). Recent developments in antipoverty policies in the United States. In J. KarlScholz, H. Moon, & S.-H. Lee (Eds.), Social policies in an age of austerity. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work received funding from Annie E. Casey Foundation, The JPB Foundation and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. R24 HD058486-03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Christopher Wimer, Irwin Garfinkel, Neeraj Kaushal & Jane Waldfogel

  2. United States Census Bureau, New York, NY, USA

    Liana Fox

  3. Pusan National Univesity, 2 Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Jangjeon 2(i)-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, South Korea

    JaeHyun Nam

Authors
  1. Christopher Wimer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Liana Fox
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Irwin Garfinkel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Neeraj Kaushal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. JaeHyun Nam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jane Waldfogel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to JaeHyun Nam.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wimer, C., Fox, L., Garfinkel, I. et al. Trends in the Economic Wellbeing of Unmarried-Parent Families with Children: New Estimates Using an Improved Measure of Poverty. Popul Res Policy Rev 40, 1253–1276 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-021-09673-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-021-09673-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation