Ethno-Racial Variation in Single Motherhood Prevalences and Penalties for Child Poverty in the United States, 1995–2018

• Author: Regina S. Baker
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221120759
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Poverty, Employment, Income, and Income-Support Policies

20 ANNALS, AAPSS, 702, July 2022

DOI: 10.1177/00027162221120759

Ethno-Racial

Variation in

Single

Motherhood

Prevalences and

Penalties for

Child Poverty

in the United

States, 1995–

2018

By

REGINA S. BAKER

1120759ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYETHNO-RACIAL VARIATION IN SINGLE MOTHERHOOD PREVALENCES

research-article2022

Empirical studies link high racial inequality in U.S.

child poverty to the higher prevalence of single moth-

erhood among certain racial groups. But a growing lit-

erature is demonstrating how the impact of single

parenthood and family structure on children varies by

racial group, including evidence that Black children

experience smaller single motherhood “penalties” for

some outcomes, like education. I use Luxembourg

Income Study data for the United States from 1995 to

2018 to further investigations of ethno-racial variation

in single motherhood penalties for child poverty. I pro-

vide a descriptive portrait of the levels and trends of

children living in single-mother households and of the

poverty penalties associated with children living in such

households. I also show that, on average, Black children

experience smaller penalties from single motherhood

and Latino children experience larger penalties, both

compared to White children. I conclude with discus-

sion of potential reasons for this variation and future

directions for research.

Keywords: single motherhood; family structure; child

poverty; racial inequality

Single-mother families in the United States

are significantly more likely than married-

parent families to live in poverty, and substan-

tial increases in single motherhood in the past

have corresponded with large increases in

child poverty (Bianchi 1999; Garfinkel and

McLanahan 1986). A disproportionate share of

nonmarital births, single motherhood, and child

poverty has occurred in Black families (Bianchi

1999; Ellwood and Jencks 2004). Hence, schol-

ars and policy-makers have placed heavy

emphasis on family structure as a causal mecha-

nism for the persistent racial inequality in child

Regina S. Baker is an Assistant Professor of sociology at

the University of Pennsylvania. Her research examines

the role of micro and macro contexts in shaping poverty

and socioeconomic disparities. She has published in the

American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Marriage and

Family, and Social Forces among others.

Correspondence: regbaker@sas.upenn.edu

ETHNO-RACIAL VARIATION IN SINGLE MOTHERHOOD PREVALENCES 21

poverty (see Amato and Maynard 2007; Ellwood and Jencks 2004; McLanahan

1985; McLanahan 2009; Thomas and Sawhill 2002).

But despite the seemingly strong relationship between single motherhood

prevalence and racial inequality in child poverty in the United States, a growing

literature casts doubt on the explanatory power of family structure. For instance,

cross-national studies have emphasized the salience of the labor market and wel-

fare state, as opposed to family structure, in explaining America’s high child

poverty (see Brady, Finnigan, and Hübgen 2017; Chen and Corak 2008; Gornick

and Jäntii 2012). Similarly, U.S.-focused studies have shown other factors, such

as employment, education, or immigrant status, are more consequential for child

poverty and racial gaps in poverty than family structure (see Baker 2015; Baker

etal. 2021; Thiede, Kim, and Slack 2017). Studies also demonstrate racial differ-

ences in the impact of family structure on a variety of outcomes such as mothers’

disadvantage from poverty risk factors (Williams and Baker 2021), wealth accu-

mulation (Addo and Lichter 2013), and children’s life outcomes (Cavanagh and

Fomby 2019; Cross 2020; McLoyd etal. 2000).

Such disparate outcomes raise the question of whether the poverty penalties

that accrue to children as a result of single motherhood differ across ethno-racial

groups. This information could deepen our insights on the race-family structure-

poverty link. To build on prior scholarship, I draw on Brady, Finnigan, and

Hübgen’s (2017) “prevalences and penalties” (PP) framework, which examines

the risks of poverty in terms of the share of the population with a risk (preva-

lences) and the increased probability of poverty associated with a risk (penalties).

I ask, What are the levels and trends of the prevalences and penalties of single

motherhood (with respect to child poverty), and how do they vary for children

across ethno-racial lines? I address these questions by analyzing data on the

United States from 1995 to 2018. I conclude with a discussion of potential expla-

nations for the observed ethno-racial differences and implications of these find-

ings for future research.

Background and Motivation

Single motherhood prevalence and poverty

American poverty scholarship and policy debates have placed a heavy empha-

sis on the role of single motherhood in perpetuating racial inequalities in child

poverty. This is partly attributable to changing family demographics in the United

States. Beginning in the 1960s, a striking trend of marriage decline and increased

nonmarital births fundamentally transformed the American family (Cherlin

2010). The rate of nonmarital births to women increased dramatically from 4

percent to 31 percent between the 1960s and early 1990s, which coincided with

a sharp rise in child poverty in the 1980s (Bianchi 1999). Hence, child poverty

was increasingly concentrated among young, unmarried mothers, and their chil-

dren (Bianchi 1999), to the point single-mother poverty became the “new

American dilemma” (Garfinkel and McLanahan 1986).