Does marriage make a difference for the economic prospects of future generations?
A new study suggests the story isn’t so simple. As the traditional nuclear family fades into history, we’ve entered the era of the “non-traditional” family: single parents, pairs of moms and dads, blended families, multi-generational households, grandparent caregivers. With a growing share of babies today born outside marriage, American society seems to be finally leaving behind the Leave it to Beaver model. A new study by Pew Economic Mobility Project asks how family structure–a divorced or single-parent household versus a conventional married one–affects a child’s economic opportunities later in life. Society’s attitude toward divorce and single parenthood has become more open over the past few generations, but has our economy? It’s easy to assume that divorce or single-parenthood would lead to some hardships, and Pew did find a link between marital status and socioeconomic advancement across generations. But the outcomes are also heavily influenced by race and class factors, which
