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U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

pewresearch.org

11–20 of 124 posts

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#11
post #7

How does India have such a low number with their high population?

Multigenerational homes and extended family care would not be counted as “single parent” in this study

Its more of a “one adult in the house” study

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#12

Freakonomics most recent podcast episode was about this very topic, and the data that indicates how valuable two-parent households can be to the parents and the children. https://freakonomics.com/podcast/when-did-marriage-become-a-...

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Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#13
post #5

Seemingly mostly due to extended family homes being rare here, as that doesn't count as single-parent in this way of measuring. Single parent USA: 23% Single parent world: 7% Extended family USA: 8% Extended family world: 38%

Regardless of how you slice it... an extended family household has multiple adults. That means the US leads the world in children being raised with only one adult around.

EDIT: Also, to be clear, an extended family household means that mom and dad could still be around, so it says nothing of a household with only either mom or dad (most likely mom, according to the article).

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#14
post #5

Seemingly mostly due to extended family homes being rare here, as that doesn't count as single-parent in this way of measuring. Single parent USA: 23% Single parent world: 7% Extended family USA: 8% Extended family world: 38%

I can't see why single parent has a bridge to extended family. Single Parenthood is about parents splitting, extended family is about mutually supporting generations.

Anecdotally, I know quite a few extended family situations, but only one single parent. Non-US context.

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#17
The legality and acceptability of divorce isn't mentioned but I think it should be. Single parents will be rarer in countries where divorce isn't a viable option but that doesn't mean the children are raised in healthier environments.

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#18
post #5

Seemingly mostly due to extended family homes being rare here, as that doesn't count as single-parent in this way of measuring. Single parent USA: 23% Single parent world: 7% Extended family USA: 8% Extended family world: 38%

I can't see why single parent has a bridge to extended family. Single Parenthood is about parents splitting, extended family is about mutually supporting generations. Anecdotally, I know quite a few extended family situations, but only one single parent. Non-US context.

Anecdotally, non-US, many of my friends grew up in these situations (single parent, usually mom, extended family helps take care). Brought up well, too

Apparently sometimes there are people other than your parent(s) who both want and can do a better job at actual parenting. (Say if one or both of the parents are still young and stupid/unstable or slightly insane/dead or can't be bothered.)

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#19
post #16
post #7

How does India have such a low number with their high population?

The numbers are percentages, so why would total population matter?

I interpreted that comment as "Its remarkable that India has a lower total number with so much population," implying that the rate is drastically lower."

Re: U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households (2019)

#20
One of the larger blank "No Data" areas is Australia (total pop. ~ 24 million (ish)) which is a bit slack on the Pew side given the ease of getting accurate data for the country:

    In June 2022, there were 7.3 million families, an increase of 1 million (15.3%) since June 2012. Of these:

    * 6.2 million (84.2%) were couple families

    * 1.0 million (14.2%) were one parent families with 79.9% of these being single mothers

    * 118,000 (1.6%) were classified as 'other families', where at least two people were related in some way other than as a couple or as a parent and child (such as adult-age siblings) 
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unem...
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