Reconsidering the increase in father-only families
Garasky, S.; Meyer, D.R.
Demography 33(3): 385-393
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0070-3370 PMID: 8875070 DOI: 10.2307/2061769Document Number: 281192
Previously reported estimates of rapid growth rates among father-only families did not account for cohabitation. An explicit treatment of cohabitation removes about half of the presumed growth. Nevertheless, we find that the number of father-only families grew at more than double the rate of mother-only families during the 1980s. Decomposition analyses show that the largest factor associated with the increase is that fathers now head a greater proportion of all formerly married single-parent families with children. Although the share of single-parent families headed by fathers is larger in 1990 than in 1980 even after controlling for cohabitation, it is smaller than in 1970.