Family Structure and the Reproduction of Poverty

TLDR

Female‑headed families have been cited as a driver of the American underclass. The study investigates why children from female‑headed households are more likely to remain poor as adults using Michigan Panel data. Four hypotheses—no‑effects, economic deprivation, father absence, and family stress—were tested separately for black and white families. Female‑headed households raise poverty risk, largely due to economic deprivation and family disruption for whites, while results for blacks are mixed.

Abstract

Recent analysts have argued that the female-headed family is responsible for the growth of an "underclass" in America. This study uses longitudinal data taken from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics to address the questions whether and why offspring in female-headed households are more likely to experience persistent poverty in adulthood. Four hypotheses regarding the effect of a father's absence are tested: the "no-effects" hypothesis, the "economic-deprivation" hypothesis, the "father-absence" hypothesis, and the "family-stress" hypothesis. Separate analyses are presented for black and whites. The findings indicate that growing up in a female-headed family increases the risk of poverty, but not because of father absence per se. Among whites, economic deprivation and the stress associated with recent family disruption account for nearly all the negative effects of family structure on offsprings' attainment, whereas among black the results are more mixed.