The promotion of marriage and two-parent families became an explicit public policy goal with the passage of the 1996 welfare reform bill. Marriage has the putative effect of reducing welfare dependency among single mothers, but only if they marry men with earnings sufficient to lift them and their children out of poverty. Newly released data from…

This paper documents changing rates of poverty, sources of income, and employment among rural female-headed families with children, focusing on the effects of welfare reform. Data from the Current Population Survey show that from 1989 through 1999, especially since passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act…

This paper documents changing patterns of concentrated poverty in nonmetro areas. Data from the Decennial U.S. Census Summary Files show that poverty rates--both overall and for children--declined more rapidly in nonmetro than metro counties in the 1990s. The 1990s also brought large reductions in the number of high-poverty nonmetro counties and…

Examines the relationship between poverty and family instability during childhood on prosocial behavior (volunteerism) during late adolescence. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), including mother and family records, indicate that adolescents, particularly males, from single parent families are less likely than those from…

We used data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Samples to document poverty rates among native-born and foreign-born Mexicans living in the southwest and in new regions where many Mexican families have resettled. Our analysis focused on how changing patterns of employment have altered the risk of poverty among Mexican families and children.…

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…

Data from Current Population Surveys indicate that poverty rose rapidly among both nonmetropolitan and metropolitan workers during 1979-89, especially among young adults and females; and provide evidence of growing inequality of income between metro and nonmetro workers, a pattern that cannot be explained by differences in work attachment, human…

Analysis of census data indicates that the proportions of children in both the wealthiest and poorest families increased during the 1980s, associated with increasing female-headed families and changing patterns of maternal employment. Moreover, increasing racial differences in family structure exacerbated income inequality between African-American…

Using the National Survey of Family Growth, we document nonmetropolitan and metropolitan single mothers? economic livelihood strategies. We have three objectives: (1) examine differences in employment, cohabitation, co-residence with other adults, and welfare receipt; (2) evaluate how these livelihood strategies are associated with economic…

Rural poverty among female-headed families with children has declined since 1996 welfare reforms. Moreover, the income of female-headed families has increased, while income from earnings has more than offset declines in public assistance income. Rural single mothers nevertheless continue to experience higher poverty rates than their urban…

Evaluates the extent to which differences in the economic well-being of Latino and non-Latino white children reside in divergent parental work patterns and/or family living arrangement. Results indicate that group differences in family structure undermine efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic inequalities in children's economic well-being. (RJM)

Analysis of census data on 19,748 persons, aged 16-24, examined the extent to which higher rural than urban dropout rates are attributable to spatial differences in family structure or economic resources. Poverty status accounted for more of the higher rural dropout rate than did differences in family structure. (KS)

Links between family structure and the changing poverty of 231,996 U.S. children are examined using child records from 1960, 1970, and 1980 Public Use Microdata samples and the 1988 March Current Population Survey. Results suggest that child poverty and racial inequality cannot be separated from changing family structure. (SLD)

Examines metropolitan and nonmetropolitan poverty rates using child records from 1960-80 Public Use Microdata Samples and 1990 population survey. With four indicators of poverty, shows increasing impoverishment during 1980s among nonmetropolitan children. Examines effects of female employment, education, and family size on children's economic…