Kay S. Hymowitz, the author of "Marriage and Caste in America," is a contributing editor at City Journal and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. This piece is adapted from the spring issue of City Journal in the Los Angeles Times:
"...The single-mother revolution has been an economic catastrophe for women. Poverty remains relatively rare among married couples with children; the U.S. census puts only 8.8% of them in that category, up from 6.7% since the start of the Great Recession. But more than 40% of single-mother families are poor, up from 37% before the downturn. In the bottom quintile of earnings, most households are single people, many of them elderly. But of the two-fifths of bottom-quintile households that are families, 83% are headed by single mothers. The Brookings Institution's Isabel Sawhill calculates that virtually all the increase in child poverty in the United States since the 1970s would vanish if parents still married at 1970 rates.
...Experts have come to believe that these are not just selection effects — that is, they don't just reflect the fact that productive men are likelier to marry. Marriage itself, it seems, encourages male productivity. One study by Donna Ginther and Madeline Zavodny examined men who'd had shotgun marriages and thus probably hadn't been planning to tie the knot. The shotgun husbands nevertheless earned more than their single peers did.
... On the other hand, those who opt for single motherhood are hurting not just themselves but their offspring. The children of single mothers are twice as likely as children growing up with both parents to drop out of high school. Those who do graduate are less likely to go to college, even if you control for household income and the mother's education. Decades of research show that kids growing up with single mothers (again, even after you allow for the obvious variables) have lower scholastic achievement from kindergarten through high school, as well as higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, behavior problems and teen pregnancy. All these factors are likely to reduce their eventual incomes at a time when what children need is more education, more training and more planning. The rise in single motherhood was ill-adapted for the economic shifts of the late 20th century.
8 Comments
So what's the story on Maggie Gallagher's son Patrick Gallagher? Has he not turned out reasonably well? Even though he was born out of wedlock and never knew his father? Maybe there's some other factor, and the real problem is *not* that being a single mother ipso facto leads to bad outcomes. Maybe poverty, as compared to affluence, has a relation to bad outcomes. Maybe when Republicans vote against equal pay for equal work for women, that has a negative impact on single mothers and their children. Yet, NOM supports Republicans.
Scott-
I don't know anything about Maggie's life, but i do know this: when you resort to personal attacks, you don't have a good argument. And when you use exceptions to the rule as your case against facts, you don't have a good argument.
We don't need a survey to know that single mothers generally have it tougher financially than married mothers. And we don't need a survey to know that in a world of heterosexual people, children with both a mom and a dad have a better chance at developing healthy relationships with the opposite sex than those with only a single parent or worse, same-sex caretakers.
So, take your shots at Maggie, but you can't ignore logic and common sense.
Scrounger - I know what Scott was saying. Poor rationalization and back-handed criticism. My comment is the same.
I love the writings of Kay Hymowitz. I always learn so much from them, and I like to track down the studies she cites.
Although it is well known that children of single mothers have always had their share of disadvantages, one point Kay makes is especially poignant: this era is not the one to lack education achievements, training and planning skills. We live in a knowledge based economy, and more and more careers are demanding college degrees when they once demanded high school diplomas.
Of course one does not have to have a college education to be successful, and not all college graduates are successful. But the children raised by single mothers are starting life with a losing hand. Their usual disadvantages are now being coupled with a forward moving society which is outpacing them, almost irreparably. And they are predisposed to violating the three rules of poverty avoidance, as noted by Ron Haskins of Pew: 1) graduate from high school; 2) get a job; 3) get married before having kids.
Since the children of single mothers are at a higher risk of not doing these three things, they entrench themselves in the disadvantaged status that they were born into.
I know of at least two ladies under the age of 23 who have more than four children by different fathers. The children live with relatives, and the mothers keep popping them out, though they didn’t finish high school and don’t even have an income to sustain themselves, much less the kids. I think about these children, who—if they fall in line with the general statistics—will grow up underperforming in school, severely disadvantaged, and become a future burden to taxpayers by one way or another.
When one contrasts those children with kids who are born to educated, wealthy, married parents—i.e. parents who are likely to pour all of their energies into ensuring that their offspring have the best chances for success—we begin to see what Kay has written about before: an emerging marriage caste system in the U.S.
A few social science researchers have done such comparisons.
But even the children born to married parents who are not all that wealthy and educated have a greater chance of upward mobility, and definitely have a better start than children born to single mothers.
Nice to finally read about some true sociological science. How well they have everything sorted out, some savvy statistical controls, and comparison to the economic trends! Since we cannot experiment with humans, we have to make conclusions based on statistics and the census. Yes, these kids are on average destined for a form of 'slavery', not based on the color of the skin. They won't even make a good work force which can compete with the illegal -Mexicans-, who at least are not looking for a handout.
Scott aRose: These post is about statistical research, not individual persons. Do you know statistics? No? That figures. Any of these authors would agree to disagree logically along with you about: 'being a single mother ipso facto leads to bad outcomes'. The study does not differentiate between genetic parent and adoptive parent, either. How can you be so incorrect in one single comment? Go to school, man.
Scrounger, the authors of the research are way ahead of you on: 'poverty is not just an effect of single motherhood, but is also a cause of it'. Note 'Those who do graduate are less likely to go to college, even if you control for household income and the mother's education', and 'Decades of research show that kids growing up with single mothers (again, even after you ALLOW FOR THE OBVIOUS VARIABLES) have lower scholastic achievement from kindergarten through high school, as well as higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, depression, BEHAVIOR problems and teen pregnancy.'. Rate of incarceration does not not mean duration of incarceration. You mean those incarcerated fathers would be taking care of their families? Or would they simply be getting the mom pregnant again. . . But, your should go into sociology, because you do seem to have a little bit of natural talent for statistical research
Actually, you are learning right here on this post.
For the sake of your children, please stop being a cowardly and mush minded victim of Marxist social engineer brainwashing.
Please, protect your children from forced indoctrination into the insanity of gay fascism.
Vote against Barack Obama, and vote against every politician and judge who is prepared to surrender the foundational truth that our species is constituted in two complementary genders, both of which are necessary for the propagation and nurture of children.
The time is now.
Just stand up and fight.