This may be bad news for social mobility, since children raised
by married parents typically do better in life on almost every available economic and social measure.
Children
born by married parents who discover that one spouse had another spouse living after the children were conceived are also considered legitimate.
This may be bad news for social mobility, since children
raised by married parents typically do better in life on almost every available economic and social measure.
Unmarried parents may also face issues and disputes not normally
shared by married parent including proving paternity, choosing a name that both parents accept, making sure the child qualifies for government benefits and insurance, and deciding child custody and visitation in the event of a parental parting.
Using data from the 2003 American Time Use Survey (ATUS), this paper provides the national estimates of time spent
together by married parents at varying levels of income and education.
«The science tells us,» Wilcox explains, «that children are not only more likely to thrive but are also more likely to simply survive when they are raised in an intact home
headed by their married parents, rather than in a home headed by a cohabiting couple.»
Children
raised by married parents do better at school, develop stronger cognitive and non-cognitive skills, are more likely to go to college, earn more, and are more likely to go on to form stable marriages themselves.
Children raised
by married parents do better at school, develop stronger cognitive and non-cognitive skills, are more likely to go to college, earn more, and are more likely to go on to form stable marriages themselves.
Children raised
by their married parents have substantially better life outcomes compared with similar children raised in single - parent homes.
Daughters raised by single mothers are more likely to engage in early sexual activity and become pregnant; their brothers are twice as likely to spend time in jail as their peers raised
by married parents.
And they are four to five times as likely to live in poverty as are children raised
by married parents.
To take one of dozens of illustrations, Brad Wilcox estimates that children raised
by married parents are 44 % more likely to go to college.
Forthcoming work from Brookings suggests that stronger parenting is the biggest factor explaining the better outcomes of children raised
by married parents.
Some 40 percent of children raised by single mothers are living in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, while roughly 8 percent of children raised
by married parents are poor (see «Was Moynihan Right?»