Were Single Parent Family Common in the 60s

This article is part of a newEducation Side by sideseries on the state of the American family . The full series will appear in our Jump 2015 issue to mark the 50th ceremony of the 1965 release of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action" (generally referred to as the Moynihan Report).

An unabridged version of this commodity is bachelor here.

When Daniel Patrick Moynihan raised the upshot of family structure half a century ago, his concern was the increase in black families headed by women. Since then, the share of children raised in unmarried-parent families in the Usa has grown across racial and ethnic groups and with it evidence regarding the touch on of family unit construction on outcomes for children. Recent studies accept documented a sizable accomplishment gap betwixt children who live with a single parent and their peers growing up with ii parents. These patterns are cause for business organization, as educational accomplishment is a primal commuter of economic prosperity for both individuals and society as a whole.

But how does the U.S. state of affairs compare to that of other countries effectually the world? This essay draws on data from the 2000 and 2012 Programme for International Pupil Assessment studies to compare the prevalence of single-parent families and how family structure relates to children'southward educational achievement across countries. The 2012 data ostend that the U.S. has about the highest incidence of single-parent families among developed countries. And the educational achievement gap between children raised in unmarried-parent and two-parent families, although nowadays in almost all countries, is specially pronounced in the U.Due south.

Since 2000, there accept been substantial changes in achievement gaps by family structure in many countries, with the gap widening in some countries and narrowing in others. The U.South. stands out in this analysis equally a country that has seen a substantial narrowing of the educational accomplishment gap betwixt children from single-parent and two-parent families. These varying trends, and the design for the U.S. in item, confirm that family construction is by no ways destiny. Aplenty testify indicates the potential for enhancing family environments, regardless of their makeup, to meliorate the quality of parenting, nurturing, and stimulation, and promote salubrious child development.

Evidence on Family unit Structure

The issue of family structure on child outcomes is a much-studied subject, and many researchers, including Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur (Growing up with a Unmarried Parent, 1994), have explored the potentially adverse effects of single parenting on children. Single parents tend to have fewer financial resource, for example, limiting their ability to invest in their children's development. Single parents may also have less time to spend with their children, and partnership instability may subject these parents to psychological and emotional stresses that worsen the nurturing surround for children.

Documented disadvantages of growing up in single-parent families in the Usa include lower educational attainment and greater psychological distress, as well every bit poor adult outcomes in areas such equally employment, income, and marital status. Disadvantages for children from single-parent families accept also been documented in other countries, including Canada, Federal republic of germany, Sweden, and the Great britain. Only cross-country prove has been hard to obtain, in office because of differing methods for measuring family unit structure and child outcomes. The PISA studies, which asked representative samples of 15-year-olds in each participating land the aforementioned questions about their living arrangements, provide a unique opportunity to address this challenge.

At the same time, it should exist noted that the descriptive patterns documented hither exercise not necessarily capture a causal effect of living in a unmarried-parent family unit. Decisions to go divorced, cease cohabitation, or deport a child outside a partnership are likely related to other factors important for child development, making it difficult to separate out the influence of family unit structure. For example, astringent stress that leads to family unit breakup might well accept continued without the breakdown and have led to worse outcomes for a child had the family remained intact. If single-parent families differ from 2-parent families in unmeasured means, then those differences may exist the underlying cause of any disparities in children's outcomes. It is even conceivable that bug a child has in schoolhouse may contribute to family breakup, rather than being a consequence of it.

In addition to comparing the raw gap in educational achievement between children from single- and two-parent families, I present results that adjust for other background differences, including the number of books at habitation, parental pedagogy, and immigrant and language background. This type of analysis tin provide useful information about the reasons educational achievement varies with family structure. It is important to continue in mind, however, that fifty-fifty these adjusted associations between child outcomes and family structure may well have causes other than family structure itself.

The Data

The Program for International Educatee Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardized assessment given every three years since 2000 past the Organization for Economic Co-performance and Development (OECD). PISA tests the math, science, and reading accomplishment of representative samples of 15-year-one-time students in each participating land. This analysis is limited to the 28 countries that were OECD members and PISA participants in 2000.

In nigh all countries, students living in single-parent families have lower achievement on average than students living in two-parent families.

PISA collects a rich array of background information in student questionnaires. Students written report whether a mother (including stepmother or foster mother) commonly lives at home with them, and similarly a father (including stepfather or foster father). Past including students living with step- and foster parents, the group of students identified equally living in 2-parent families will include some students who accept experienced a family separation. It is possible that, as a issue, any differences between students from single- and from two-parent families volition be understated in the analysis. Evidence from 2000, the one year for which information technology is possible to dissever out students living with stepparents, suggests that this is indeed the example. In the international sample, the achievement difference would be 16 points rather than xiv points if stepparents were excluded from the two-parent families.

I limit the analysis to students who live with either ane or two parents, excluding students living with neither parent and students for whom data on either the father or the mother is missing. On average beyond countries, 1.6 percent of students with available data from 2012 practice not alive with any parent (1.9 percent in the United States) and 7 per centum of the total student population (11 percentage in the United states) accept missing information on whether a mother and/or father lives at abode with them. My total 2012 sample contains more 230,000 students or about 8,500 students per country on average. The U.S. sample consists of more than 4,300 students living in either single-parent (student lives with either mother or father only) or two-parent (student lives with both mother and father) families.

Unmarried-Parent Families and Student Achievement

In the Us, in 2012, 21 percent of fifteen-year-old students lived in single-parent families (meet Figure 1). Together with Hungary (also 21 percent), this puts the Us at the top amongst the countries. On average beyond all 28 countries, the share of single-parent families is 14 pct. New Zealand too has a share college than 20 percent, while the Czechia has 18 percent, and Poland, the Great britain, Republic of finland, Mexico, Denmark, and France have shares between xv and 17 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, Greece, Korea, Italy, and Sweden have shares between 8.8 and 9.six percent; Spain, Iceland, Norway, Ireland, and the netherlands each have shares between x and 11.iii pct.

The vast majority of single-parent families are families with a unmarried mother. On average across countries, 86 percent of single-parent families are headed past single mothers. In the United States, the figure is 84 percent.

To compare educatee accomplishment across countries, I focus on test scores in math, which are nigh readily comparable across countries. (Results for science and reading achievement in 2012, documented in the unabridged version of this study, are quite similar.) In each subject area, PISA measures accomplishment on a scale that has a student-level standard departure of 100 exam-score points across OECD countries. That is, any accomplishment differences can be interpreted every bit percentages of a standard difference in test scores, with one standard deviation in test-score performance representing between three and four years of learning on average. To illustrate, the average difference in math accomplishment between the two course levels in our sample with the largest shares of fifteen-year-olds (9th and 10th grade) is 28 test-score points, which is a little more than one-quarter of a standard deviation and roughly equivalent to one twelvemonth of learning or one course level.

In almost all countries, students living in single-parent families take lower achievement on boilerplate than students living in two-parent families (see Figure 2a). In the U.s.a., the average raw achievement departure in math between students living in 2-parent families and students living in unmarried-parent families is 27 points, or roughly one grade level. The United States is ane of six countries with achievement differences larger than 25 points. Belgium has the largest disparity in math accomplishment by family structure, at 35 points, followed by the Netherlands (29), and Poland, Nippon, and the United Kingdom (27 to 28). On average across the 28 countries, students living in single-parent families score 18 points lower than students living in two-parent families.

In that location are exceptions, however. United mexican states shows no accomplishment deviation past family construction, and the difference is statistically insignificant in Portugal every bit well. The accomplishment difference is below x points in Portugal (6), Italia (vii), Austria (8), and Frg (9).

Figure iii plots these achievement gaps by family unit structure confronting the countries' shares of students living in single-parent families. There is a slight tendency for countries with college shares of single-parent families to have larger accomplishment disparities, although the correlation is non statistically significant.

The Usa stands out in this figure in terms of the prevalence of single-parent families and the associated achievement gap. Kingdom of belgium and the Netherlands exhibit the highest achievement disparities, although single parenthood is non particularly prevalent in these countries. The southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) stand out as places with relatively low achievement disparities and relatively low prevalence of single parenthood. The High german-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) testify similarly low accomplishment disparities despite their higher prevalence of single parenthood. The Asian countries (Korea and Nippon) have lower levels of single-parent families but higher achievement disparities. The Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) all take similarly middling levels of accomplishment disparities despite varying levels of single-parenthood incidence. Finally, the eastern European countries (Czechia, Hungary, and Poland) have quite different accomplishment disparities despite the consistently high incidence of unmarried-parent families.

The four quadrants divide the countries co-ordinate to the degree of bear upon the prevalence of single-parent families is likely to accept over the long term. For countries in the elevation right cell that take loftier values on both variables—the United states beingness the leading example—single parenthood may institute a major business organization for the next generation. It is quite prevalent, and the associated achievement gap is quite large. In countries in the bottom correct cell, such as Hungary and Mexico, single parenthood is as well quite mutual, but the achievement disparity is less astringent. While single parenthood is less prevalent in the countries in the top left prison cell, such as the netherlands and Ireland, the achievement difference is large and may still found a serious problem for afflicted students. Finally, in the bottom left prison cell, for countries, including Italy and Kingdom of spain, where single parenthood is less prevalent and achievement disparities relatively minor, at that place is less cause for concern.

Adjusting for Groundwork Differences

The accomplishment differences reported and so far are raw differences, non adjusted for background differences between students from single- and two-parent families. These raw differences may capture effects of disadvantaged backgrounds, equally singled-out from any contained effects of single parenthood. To provide a sense of the extent to which this might be the case, we side by side control for differences in family background beyond family structure.

In item, we hold constant the number of books in the student's home (as a proxy for socioeconomic background), the highest pedagogy level of the parent(s), clearing status (native, first-, and second-generation immigrants), and whether the national language is spoken at dwelling. All these measures are strongly associated with student achievement, and across countries, books in the dwelling house and parental education tend to be negatively associated with single parenthood. In the cantankerous-sectional data, though, we cannot observe whether some of these measures are preexisting characteristics of the families, in which example they stand for potential biases, or whether they are an effect of unmarried parenthood.

Controlling for background factors has a substantial affect on the estimated achievement disparity between students living in single- and two-parent families (see Effigy 2c). In the United States, the achievement disparity declines past more than lx percent, from 27 to x points. On boilerplate beyond all countries, the disparity is reduced by one-half, from 18 to ix points. While the United states of america withal features above-average achievement differences past family unit construction after the adjustment, in absolute terms it differs less markedly from the international average. The countries with the largest adjusted achievement gap by family unit background are Belgium (22), Poland (21), and holland (17). In 12 countries, the adapted achievement gap is beneath v points, or less than half the adjusted achievement gap in the United States. In seven countries, after the adjustment, the achievement disparity past family unit structure is no longer statistically significant. In Korea and Portugal, the adjusted relationship even turns negative.

With the exception of Mexico and Switzerland, where controlling for background factors hardly affects the results, the adjusted gaps are smaller in all countries than in the initial analysis. In the majority of countries (19 out of 28), the reduction in the accomplishment disparity between students in single- and two-parent families from controlling for observed factors is in the range of twoscore to 80 percent of the raw difference in accomplishment.

The background factors practise not contribute equally to the reduction in the achievement gap, nevertheless. In fact, controlling only for the number of books at home reduces the achievement gap by family construction beyond all countries to 9 points. Past contrast, clearing status and language spoken at dwelling hardly contribute to the reduction. This pattern is quite similar in the United States. That is, in the international sample, roughly half of the achievement difference between students living in unmarried- and two-parent families simply reflects differences in socioeconomic status equally captured past the number of books in the home.

To a large extent, the accomplishment gap betwixt students living in unmarried-parent and ii- parent families reflects differences in socioeconomic groundwork, as measured by the number of books at domicile and parental educational activity, rather than family structure alone.

With the available information, it is incommunicable to determine whether the relative lack of books in single-parent homes mostly reflects a preexisting feature of the families or whether it is (at least partly) an effect of the family structure. The number of books may to some extent reflect the number of people living in the home. Effigy 2b presents achievement differences between students living in single- and two-parent families, controlling for parental education, immigration status, and linguistic communication spoken at home, simply not for books at home. At xix points, this alternative adjusted achievement gap in the United States lies roughly midway betwixt the raw difference (27) and the gap as adjusted for books at domicile as well every bit the other characteristics (ten). On average beyond countries, the accomplishment gap in this model is 15 points. Thus, while controlling for books at abode may well capture in office the effect of family construction, some of the overall achievement gap conspicuously reflects preexisting differences.

Of form, the background factors considered here past no means capture all relevant differences in family background, although they take been found to be particularly relevant for pupil accomplishment. The adapted accomplishment gaps past family structure above may partly reverberate boosted differences in family background rather than family structure alone.

Changes Over Time

Finally, I clarify trends in the patterns over time. To do so, I perform the aforementioned analyses as above with data from
the 2000 PISA study, when the first of these surveys was administered. (See entire version for details.) Over the menstruation from 2000 to 2012, the share of 15-year-olds living in single-parent families increased from xviii to 21 percentage in the United States, and from 12 to xiv percent on boilerplate in the international sample, although in that location are substantial differences across countries. The average achievement gap in the international sample as well increased by 33 percent, from thirteen.6 to 18 points.

In full general, countries with larger increases in the incidence of unmarried parenthood from 2000 to 2012 tended to accept larger increases in the achievement gap past family construction every bit well. The U.Southward. is a clear outlier from this pattern, nevertheless. The raw difference in math achievement betwixt students from single- and two-parent families in the U.S. was substantially higher in 2000 than in 2012, at 37 points compared to 27 points (see Figure four). Thus, over the grade of 12 years, the achievement gap in the U.S. declined by 29 percentage. In 2000, just kingdom of the netherlands, with a gap of 43 points, had a larger accomplishment gap than the United States. Korea (26) and Belgium (21) follow at some distance. At the other stop, vii countries had achievement gaps lower than five points in 2000 (Republic of iceland, Switzerland, Greece, Italian republic, Czechia, Republic of ireland, and Mexico).

Conclusions

Single parenthood is prevalent in virtually all OECD countries, just the share of single-parent families is especially high in the U.s.. Students from single-parent families perform significantly lower in math than students from two-parent families in virtually all countries. To a large extent, however, this achievement gap reflects differences in socioeconomic background, equally measured by the number of books at home and parental educational activity, rather than family construction alone. The Usa belongs to the group of countries with the largest achievement gaps by family structure, although the United States was more exceptional in this regard in 2000 than in 2012. While the accomplishment gap betwixt students from single- and ii-parent families increased in almost other OECD countries over the flow, it declined in the United States.

This variation in trends shows that achievement disparities by family construction are by no ways destiny. Ample evidence reveals that information technology is possible to enhance family unit environments to amend the quality of parenting, nurturing, and stimulation, and thereby promote good for you child development. Hereafter enquiry should investigate to what extent factors such as differing welfare systems, child support facilities, divorce regulations, and other country characteristics may lie backside the differences in achievement gaps betwixt students from single- and two-parent families across countries and over fourth dimension.

Ludger Woessmann is professor of economics at the University of Munich and director of the Ifo Centre for the Economics of Teaching.

Last updated January 27, 2015

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Source: https://www.educationnext.org/international-look-single-parent-family/

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