In order to understand the meaning of wives' labor force participation for dual-earner families and the consequences of that participation, the breadwinner role must be conceptualized more clearly and the concept used more precisely. Researchers must abandon their assumption that all wives who are in the labor force are breadwinners and instead…

Presents a beginning conceptualization of five distinct life-styles of single-parent families. Social workers can help such families anticipate and deal with the psychosocial risks and make maximum use of the unique opportunities of the life-style they adopt. (Author)

Summarizes data from 1990 Current Population Survey supporting three general conclusions: (1) parental employment and children's poverty are linked in married-couple and female-headed families; (2) child poverty rates are insensitive to parental employment; (3) black-white differences in child poverty are not result of racial differences in…

A key challenge facing western welfare states is that they offset income risks faced by those in breadwinner families. Social Security is an excellent example. It best protects individuals with lengthy work histories or individuals who get married, stay married, and are never employed. Most women fit neither model. Thus, I analyze…

Focuses on the theoretical concept of the lone father family, examines previous research, and presents the findings related to a study of lone fathers. Research supports raising further inquiry into the question of single-parent, male-headed families, and structuring new policies in support of the lone father and his children. (Author)

Women have increasingly become more involved in the workforce following World War II. Paid employment of women has shifted from primarily traditional female-oriented jobs to more non-traditional, and previously male-oriented careers. Women's participation in the workforce has lead to the study of career aspirations of women. Career aspirations are…

Loneliness and lack of social support have been described as the more serious social consequences of the single-parent status. Revealed shifts in the household composition of one-parent families over time, a lower level of community participation, and a feeling of powerlessness among single-parent, family heads. (Author)

Examines aspects of mother-only families. Finds high economic insecurity in mother-only families because of low earnings, lack of child support and meager public benefits. Argues that struggle of mother-only families reflects societal struggles around changes in women's roles, relationship between state and family, and class and racial inequality.…

Using data from the 1976 Annual Housing Survey, this paper presents information on housing for 1,865,000 households headed by persons under 65 that include one or more dependents aged 65 or over. It also provides data that will aid in the critical evaluation of the merits of federal programs designed to provide financial incentives for families…

Describes investigation exploring relationships between adolescents' reports of fathers' interest in them, fathers' interest in adolescent relative to a sibling, and adolescent self-esteem in postdivorce, mother-headed families and two-parent, always-married families. Suggests adolescents with low-interest and differentially interested fathers had…

An analysis of recently published census data suggests that gender, race, and ethnicity strongly affect poverty rates. However, parenthood interacts with gender in such a way as to affect only women and to affect white women more than blacks and Hispanics. Competing arguments regarding public policy to alleviate such problems are considered.…

This paper uses data from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses to investigate the impact of welfare benefits across Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) on the incidence of single motherhood and headship for young women. A contribution of the paper is the inclusion of both MSA fixed effects and MSA-specific time trends to account for fixed and…

Four briefs use data from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing to examine housing characteristics of reservation American Indian households. Forty-eight reservations with 500 or more American Indian households were compared to all households in the United States and to nonreservation American Indian households. Data revealed that: (1)…

Most of the nonmetropolitan poor live in a household with at least one worker. In 1987, 70% of nonmetro poor family heads who were not ill, disabled, or retired worked for at least part of the year, and 24% worked full time, year-round. The employed proportion of the poor was significantly larger in nonmetro than metro areas. Despite a lengthy…

Noting that the preceding two decades have seen a dramatic growth in the proportion of families that are headed by women, this book explores the causes and implications of this development. The book bring together information on the past and present prevalence of mother-headed families in different countries. It then considers the various…