Ashley Lewis

Brian Stewart

Francine Thrower

Britany Lopez

Single- Versus Two-Parent Families

Census figures indicate that in 1990, among all black families below the poverty line, 75 percent were headed by single women, while only 20 percent were married-couple families. Fifty-three percent of all black families with children under eighteen that were maintained by single women in 1990 were below the poverty line. By contrast, only 14.3 percent of black married-couple families with children were below the poverty line in that year.
There is a direct and important relationship between family income and family composition. In 1991, of those black families with children under eighteen, only 12 percent with incomes of $15,000 or less were two-parent families. By contrast, among those families with incomes over $25,000, 69 percent were two-parent families. Among black families with incomes over $40,000, fully 79 percent were two-parent families.
Between 1967 and 1990, the ratio of black to white median family income for all families hardly changed at all, and in fact declined slightly from the 59 percent figure in 1967. By way of contrast, the ratio of black to white median family income for married-couple families rose almost continuously during this period, from 68 percent in 1967 to 84 percent in 1990. These figures include older families formed before the important social changes of the fifties and sixties took place. Among married couples in the 15 to 24 year age range, the black-white income ratio was 94 percent in 1991. Among married couples in the 25 to 34 year age range, the ratio was 86 percent, and among those in the 35 to 44 year age range, the ratio was 92 percent. In other words, the median family income for married-couple black families formed in recent years approximates 90 percent of the income of white married-couple families.
The income figures for married couples are especially striking, because they include all sources of income, including investment income in the form of dividends, interest, and rent, as well as income from welfare payments, pensions, etc. A much larger percentage of whites have investment income than do blacks, not least of all because whites are much more likely, at present, to inherit wealth than are blacks. Investment income is very likely to be in addition to other income, while welfare rarely is. This factor in and of itself explains a large portion of the black-white income gap for married-couple families.

http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010125214&source=gale&userGroupName=mcc_main&version=1.0.
http://www.2facts.com/TempFiles/i0400210.htm (Homosexual Parenting)