From a conversation with a student
I had a very interesting conversation with one of my PreCalculus students. He had been working on a paper for another course that was investigating the achievement gap in education in America. He asked me if I had any opinions or thoughts about it. Of course, I did. During the ensuing conversaiton, we spoke about the effect of the increasing number of children raised in single-parent homes. I got curious and later looked up some statistics.
- I found out about a small organizaiton that gives support to single parents, The Single Parent Success Foundation out of Irvine, CA. The site provided the statistics below. You can find them at: http://www.singleparentsuccess.org. I cannot imagine how hard the job of a single parent must be. My guess is there is not enough support organizations like the SPSF.
- Then I found some data from Single Parent Magazine.
Single Parent Statistics (a bit dated.... from around 2004)
- Births to unmarried women constituted 36 percent of all births in 2004, reaching a record high of nearly 1.5 million births. Over half of births to women in their early twenties and nearly 30 percent of births to women ages 25-29 were to unmarried women
"America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being, 2006" www.childstats.gov
- Along with the number of births to unmarried women, the birth rate for unmarried women rose in 2004. The 2004 rate of 46 births per 1,000 unmarried women ages 15-44 matches the historic high reported a decade earlier, in 1994
"America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being, 2006" www.childstats.gov
- Between 1980 and 1994, the birth rate for unmarried women ages 15-44 increased from 29 to 46 per 1,000. Between 1995 and 2003, the rate has fluctuated little, ranging from 43 to 45 per1,000
"America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-being, 2006" www.childstats.gov
- In 1995, nearly six of 10 children living with mothers only were near the poverty line. About 45 percent of children raised by divorced mothers and 69 percent by never-married mothers lived in or near poverty, which was $13,003 for a family of three in 1998.
Census Brief CENBR/97-1, Bureau of the Census www.census.gov, September 1997.
- 75% of children/adolescents in chemical dependency hospitals are from single-parent families.
(Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA)
- More than one half of all youths incarcerated for criminal acts lived in one-parent families when they were children.
(Children's Defense Fund)
- 63% of suicides are individuals from single parent families
(FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin - Investigative Aid)
- 75% of teenage pregnancies are adolescents from single parent homes
(Children in need: Investment Strategies...Committee for Economic Development)
Source: Single Parent Success Foundation (http://www.singleparentsuccess.org/stats.html)
Single Parent Magazine
13.6
approximately 13.6 million single parents in the United States today, and those parents are responsible for raising 21.2 million children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today).
- U.S. Census Bureau
60%
Single father homes are the fastest growing type of family situation; the amount of single fathers has grown by 60% in the last ten years alone.
1.4
Million children (almost one child in twenty) live in a household headed by their grandparent with no parent present.
- http://ohioline.osu.edu/ss-fact
6 employment statistics about single parents:
- 79% of custodial single mothers are gainfully employed
- 50% work full time, year round
- 29% work part-time or part-year
- 92% of custodial single fathers are gainfully employed
- 74% work full time, year round
- 18% work part-time or part-year
Source: Single Parent Magazine ( http://www.singleparentmagazine.net/single-parent-statistics/ )
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