Following the ongoing increase in nonmarital fertility, policy makers have looked for ways to limit the disadvantages faced by children of unmarried mothers. Recent initiatives included marriage promotion and welfare-to-work programs. Yet policy might also consider the promotion of three generational households. We know little about whether…

Examined effects of household structure on labor force status of female heads of families with minor children using the March 1985 Current Population Survey. Results suggest that models of labor force behavior are misspecified if female heads of families are not analyzed separately by race and marital status. (Author/ABL)

Life-table procedures and data from the 1973 Family Growth Survey are used in this paper to determine: (1) the cumulative probability that by a given age a child will have experiences a single-parent family as a consequence of marital disruption; (2) the cumulative proportion of these children experiencing either remarriage or age 18 by given…

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…

Examines changes in female labor force participation since 1950. Finds little difference currently between metro and nonmetro areas in propensity of women to work outside the home. Traces racial and age differences in labor force participation. Finds family situation and changing social expectations responsible for increase in working women. (LFL)

A sample of mothers and daughters from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience is examined to find out whether living in a one parent family has any effect on the chances of a daughter's completing high school. The sample is limited to mothers and daughters living in the same household during the initial sample screening in…

In recent decades the proportion of women with children who head their own households has increased dramatically. The following factors have contributed to this: (1) decrease in fertility; (2) increase in divorce; (3) increased propensity for women with children to establish independent households; (4) increase in remarriage; and (5) increase in…