Single Parents in High-Income Countries: What the United States Can Learn from Others

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221123446
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Summative Commentaries

226 ANNALS, AAPSS, 702, July 2022

DOI: 10.1177/00027162221123446

Single Parents

in High-Income

Countries:

What the

United States

Can Learn from

Others

By

ISABEL V. SAWHILL

1123446ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYSINGLE PARENTS IN HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES

research-article2022

In the last 50 years, single parenthood has become

more prevalent in the United States. As compared to

other high-income countries, the United States does

little to support single-parent families and they fare

poorly as a result. This volume takes a comparative

approach to extend our knowledge of the experiences

of single parent families and the best approaches to

support their well-being. By looking at the circum-

stances of single-parent families across many countries,

this volume sheds light on important questions pertain-

ing to child poverty and income inequality, the role of

public assistance in supporting single-parent families,

and the impact of this assistance on employment and

marriage. In this article, I summarize the authors’ con-

tributions in addressing these questions and present my

own perspective on related issues, including the impact

of single-parent families and cohabitation on children.

I end with highlighting what researchers can learn from

this volume and how U.S. policymakers can apply these

lessons.

Keywords: single parents; child poverty; income ine-

quality; public assistance; marriage

The prevalence of single-parent families has

been growing in almost all advanced coun-

tries over the last half century (Biegert et al.,

this volume; Nieuwenhuis, this volume). That

trend has been driven by changes in opportuni-

ties for women that enable them to survive

Isabel V. Sawhill is a senior fellow in economic studies

at the Brookings Institution, working in the Center on

Children and Families and on the Future of the Middle

Class Initiative. Dr. Sawhill’s research spans a wide

array of economic and social issues, including fiscal

policy, economic growth, poverty, social mobility, and

inequality. Dr. Sawhill has authored or edited numer-

ous books, including A New Contract with the Middle

Class (with Richard Reeves), The Forgotten Americans:

An Economic Agenda for a Divided Nation, Generation

Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without

Marriage, Creating an Opportunity Society (with Ron

Haskins), and Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting

the Long-Run Challenge.

Correspondence: isawhill@brookings.edu