Parents Matter

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Parents Matter

But I bet you didn’t know how much.

Single-parent families and birth out of wedlock put a child significantly at risk, and both are on the rise.
Single-parent families:[4]
Doubled since 1960
1/3 of children are now raised without fathers.
1/9 of children are raised without mothers.
That’s 20 million children.

Black children are most at risk due to absentee fathers
[percentage of children with two married parents by race][7]
White, non-hispanic: 74%
Hispanic: 59%
Black: 33%
Marriage is a lifestyle choice. But lack of married parents is also an economic, educational, social, and mental health crisis in the making.

[What parental status means for the kids]

Poverty:
Single-parent families, and educational attainment of house-holding parent are the largest indicators of youth poverty.

Children living with single-parent mothers are 5.5 times likelier to live in poverty than children from married-parent homes.
[number is percent living in poverty][1]
Dual parent homes:6.8%
Single-Mother homes: 37.1%
That’s 9.6 million single-mother families in poverty.
With average incomes of:[4]
Married couple: $80,000
Single-Mother: $24,000

Single mothers are particularly entrenched in poverty. Staying impoverished for an average of 7 years, single divorced mothers make 67% of their married earnings. Divorced males make 90% of their married earnings.[8]

By educational attainment
[of householder; % in poverty]
less than high school;25.5
high school;12.2
Some college; 8.6
college or higher; 2.4%

Poverty is cyclical. Give your kids a chance.[10]
71% of children whose parents were in the bottom half of income distribution are upwardly mobile, but not by much.
Only 38% of individuals born into the bottom half of income distribution move into the top half.
[percent who on their parents income percentile by 20%+]
Women: 38%
Men:51%
Blacks: 35%
Whites: 50%
Chances of improvement:
1.)White men
2.)White women
3.)Black men
4.)Black women

Collateral damage: Self-esteem, health, chances of success in standardized tests.

Early on. Instability in parental situations and low education levels harm childhood development:[7]
Cohabitation, and step parents do not take the place of married biological parents.
–TO similar extents, single parents, cohabiting partners, and step parents provide less supervision and support than married biological parents.[8]

Emotional development by age three:[3]
Married > by 30% of standard deviation then cohabitation
–Or, children without married parents are 20 percentiles behind the emotional development stage of children from married parents.

Cognitive Development by age three:
Married > by 10% of standard deviation then cohabitation
–Or, children without married parents are 7 percentiles behind the cognitive development stage of married parents.

By education levels
Emotional development by age three:[3]
Degree holding > by 40%+ of standard deviation than non-degree holding
–Or, children without a degree holding parent are 27+ percentiles behind the cognitive development of children of degree holding parent
Cognitive development by age three:[3]
Degree holding > by 40%+ of standard deviation than non-degree holding
–Or, children without a degree holding parent are 27+ percentiles behind the cognitive development of children of degree holding parents.

Parental support and supervision account for 20-40% of the adjustment deficit between children from married homes and unmarried homes. [8]

Unmarried homes lower childrens’ standardized test scores, graduation rates, and educational attainment.[12]
Students from non married homes score lower on elementary school tests in reading, math, science, and history than students from married homes.[13]

High school english and math grades:[13]
[group, avg gpa]
Married families: 2.9
Cohabitating families: 2.6
Single parent families: 2.5

Expectations:
Children from married homes expecting to graduate from college:
Males:31.3%
Females:26.7%
Children from unmarried homes not planning on getting a college degree.
Males: 42.4%
Females: 35.9%
Only 60% of children from unmarried homes even apply to college.

College attendance rates:
Married families: 57%+
Single parent homes: 47.5%
Parents remarried (stepparents): 32.5%
Neither parent present: 31.8%

Graduate school expectations:
[% expecting to go to graduate schools]
From married homes:
Males: 40%
Females: 44.7%
From unmarried homes:
Males: 30.7%
Females:35.3%

Children from married homes behave better, are more engaged, have better attendance, are less likely to drop out, and are more likely to complete every stage of education than children from unmarried homes.

Single parent homes lead to addiction and poor mental health
With girls 3x likelier to have a chemical dependency
And boys 4x likelier to have a chemical dependency
When from a single parent home.

Black males suffered the most from lack of a father. With drug addiction rates jumping 6x when living in a single-mother home.

Both boys and girls twice as likely to develop severe depression, bi-polar disorder, or schizophrenia when from a single family home.
Rates for severe mental illness:[15]
Married homes:
Girls:5%
Boys:8%
Unmarried homes:
Girls:13%
Boys:15%

Bad outcomes[9]
Overwhelmingly bad outcomes come from 30% of homes that are single-parent.[11]
63% of suicides were children of single-parent homes[9]
75% of children in chemical dependancy hospitals are from single-parent homes
More than half of all youths incarcerated in the U.S. are from single-parent homes.

Parents (plural) who are married, matter. Period.

[citations]
1.)http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_09_3YR_S1702&prodType=table
2.)http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Child_Trends-2011_04_04_RB_MaritalHappiness.pdf
3.)http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm120.pdf
4.)http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-number-of-children-living-in-single-parent-homes-has-nearly-doubled-in/
5.)http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/04/08/out.of.wedlock.births/
6.)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10172627/Most-children-will-be-born-out-of-wedlock-by-2016.html
7.)http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/famsoc1.asp
8.)http://www.familyimpactseminars.org/s_wifis02c04.pdf
9.)http://www.news-leader.com/article/20121125/NEWS01/311250054/single-parents-Ozarks-poverty
10.)http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Economic_Mobility/PEW_Upward%20EM%2014.pdf
11.)http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1337.pdf
12.)http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=hilltopreview
13.)http://marri.us/research/marriage-and-family/
14.)http://www.thehilltoponline.com/2.4839/children-in-single-parent-homes-and-emotional-problems-1.472758#.UfGScI2TjoY
15.)http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/feb/21/mentalhealth.childrensservices

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