The Growth of Families Headed by Women: 1950 to 1980. CDE Working Paper 88-31 (original) (raw)

In recent decades the proportion of women with children who head their own households has increased dramatically. The following factors have contributed to this: (1) decrease in fertility; (2) increase in divorce; (3) increased propensity for women with children to establish independent households; (4) increase in remarriage; and (5) increase in nonmarital births. This paper uses United States Census data to analyze the impact of these major demographic components on the growth in female-headed families from 1950 to 1980. The findings indicate that for white women, the major source of growth has been the increase in the number of formerly married mothers, which results from higher divorce rates and, more recently, lower rates of remarriage. For black women, much of the early growth in female-headed households was caused by an increase in formerly married mothers, but recent growth has come from declines in marriage and increases in births to never-married women. Data are presented on ten tables and figures. A list of references is included. Decomposition equations and notes are provided in an appendix. (Atthor /BJV)