Poverty and the Single Parent

Paper Summary:

This paper begins by describing current statistics relating to poverty in American households. It states that the statistics indicate that poverty is disproportionately higher in single parent families than nuclear families. It looks at the social affect of this phenomena - ranging from abuse, high-school drop out rates, pregnancy and drug usage. It also discusses how poverty affects different ethnic groups in America, with the focus on African-American families.

From the Paper:

"If current trends continue, especially in metropolitan areas like New York, Aless than half of all children born today will live continuously with their father and mother throughout childhood@ (Whitehead 11). Statistics now reveal that there are more than 11.5 million single-parent families in the U.S. According to the U.S., census bureau, about one-third of these families are poor. Poverty does not come merely from a single parent heading a family, but that the majority of these families are headed by women, who have few job skills, and little time to even work, in order to care for their children. Child support received nationwide in recent years totaled more than $28 billion. And there are few signs of this sort of economic cost of single-parent families, the majority black, of being reduced. Why is family structure a major cause of poverty? One answer is the failing family structure of the urban ghettos: AChanges in the family structure resulting in a decline of husband-wife families@ (Wilson 87)."

More papers on Poverty and the Single Parent:

• Research Paper # 61632 : "Single-Parent Household Students"
• Analytical Essay # 9495 : "Single Parent Families: Are Children Worse Off?"
• Term Paper # 6647 : "The Rise of Single-Parent Black Families"

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