This report examines what share of the current level of child poverty in the United States can be attributed to the growth of single parenthood since the 1960s, focusing on what the child poverty rate would be today if single parent families had remained at the levels that existed before the beginning of the war on poverty. Researchers simulated…

Examines simultaneously the influence of mate availability and other factors on the transition to first marriage and the transition to a first premarital birth. Found that the supply of available mates in the local marriage market has somewhat paradoxical effects on the probability of becoming an unmarried mother. (63 references) (RJM)