Monday, April 21, 2014

Income Inequality and Single-Parent Families

This article tries to shed light on an often ignored variable that contributes to income inequality - single parent families. Increases in the divorce rate and births outside of wedlock has resulted in many more single-parent families, and this has very negative effects overall.  For reasons discussed in this article, this variable has largely been ignored in the income inequality discussion. I wonder if it will be addressed in Capital. What do you make of this issue? How would you circumvent some of the problems the authors mention?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579493612156024266?mod=trending_now_1

Some excerpts:

"The two-parent family has declined rapidly in recent decades. In 1960, more than 76% of African-Americans and nearly 97% of whites were born to married couples. Today the percentage is 30% for blacks and 70% for whites. The out-of-wedlock birthrate for Hispanics surpassed 50% in 2006. This trend, coupled with high divorce rates, means that roughly 25% of American children now live in single-parent homes, twice the percentage in Europe (12%). Roughly a third of American children live apart from their fathers." 

"Abuse, behavioral problems and psychological issues of all kinds, such as developmental behavior problems or concentration issues, are less common for children of married couples than for cohabiting or single parents, according to a 2003 Centers for Disease Control study of children's health. The causal pathways are about as clear as those from smoking to cancer." 

"More than 20% of children in single-parent families live in poverty long-term, compared with 2% of those raised in two-parent families, according to education-policy analyst Mitch Pearlstein's 2011 book "From Family Collapse to America's Decline." The poverty rate would be 25% lower if today's family structure resembled that of 1970, according to the 2009 report "Creating an Opportunity Society" from Brookings Institution analysts Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill. A 2006 article in the journal Demography by Penn State sociologist Molly Martin estimates that 41% of the economic inequality created between 1976-2000 was the result of changed family structure" 

5 comments:

  1. I think what is really interesting in this article is the lack of psychological development that arise for children in single-parent households. Even though statistics are almost always skewed to look better for an article, I think it makes sense that children in single-parent families end up living in poverty long-term. Family incomes decrease when there is only one person able to make money, and the ability to develop their children also decreases because of less time at home.

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  2. I've never thought much about linking the single household situation to income inequality. Having come from a single parent household, I do know that one parent making money to feed her family is a challenge with prices rising for goods and the cost of living rising as well. It's hard to make ends meet.

    But, I do not have much of an opinion about income inequality because the situation seems more like a problem to be discussed with the government despite the "racial tensions" that people are afraid could happen. The race of the subject does not need to be a factor in the debate if it is about relaying the fact that inequality has been shown in the American society as a whole.

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  3. i do agree with what was discussed in the article. However, i am still unclear on how that could be addressed from an economic standpoint. the 'income inequality' for single parent households seem to arise from the breakdown of the traditional notion of 'American family.' As a result, different institutions, such as the economy, reveals the larger impacts of this breakdown on people's lives. i think that there is need to have dialogues on this from a social standpoint.

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  4. I do not think income inequality comes largely due to the fact that there are more single parent families, instead, I think it is a combination of factors such as location, support, education, health care, and other dynamics that affect this inequality even more. Also, I do agree with Dorothy, a traditional family in the US is based of mother and father, but it is not necessarily the same situation in other countries. Therefore, should we reorganize family structure to address this problem or should we try to look for solutions to some of the other issues that affect the factors I mentioned?

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  5. A family is an important foundation for the child's life. When the family is torn apart, it can have many adverse effects on a child's development and life. I'm going to make sure that if I have any children, I will provide them an environment to thrive and flourish. I see so many single parents of children, some of them have great, rich family lives, and others just get ignored or told to stay quiet in their room all day. Raising a child is the parents' responsibility, if they are going to create one.

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