Impact of Divorce, Single Parenting and Stepparenting on Children

A Case Study of Visual Agnosia

E. Mavis Hetherington, Josephine D. Arasteh

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781138417380
• eBook ISBN: 9781317760368
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This book, a result of a conference sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, explores developmental and clinical evidence of how divorce, and the transition to single parenting and stepparenting affects children. Many of the articles collected here look at the legal measures being used to make such transitions easier for families.

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PART I

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THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE

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1

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Demographic Trends and the Living Arrangements of Children

Donald J. Hernandez

United States Bureau of the Census

The living arrangements of American children have shifted dramatically during recent decades due to major demographic and socioeconomic changes. This chapter begins by describing the most important demographic trends that have influenced the familial and socioeconomic circumstances of children. Next, the chapter discusses the most important changes in the parental living arrangements of children that have occurred during recent decades, and that are projected to occur during the next few decades. Finally, the chapter presents data collected by the Census Bureau in 1987 describing in considerable detail the social, economic, and demographic circumstances of children as they relate to the parental living arrangements of children. Whereas this chapter focuses on basic data for children, Hernandez (1986) thoroughly reviewed past sociodemographic research on children and their families, and Watts and Hernandez (1982) presented a conceptual framework for child and family indicators, as well as an overall assessment of the availability of statistical data for a comprehensive set of child and family indicators.

DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

Begining with basic demographic trends, four major variables pertain directly to the parental living arrangements of children: (a) the substantial rise in the number of births occurring to unmarried mothers as a ratio of births to all mothers, (b) the associated rise in the number of post-birth marriages among never-married women who have borne at least one child out-of-wedlock, (c) the great increase in the divorce rate, and (d) the associated increase in the proportion of divorced women with children who remarry.

Although the biological union of a mother and a father is a prerequisite to a birth, the postpartum family support and living arrangements of the child need not involve both or, indeed, either parent. In the United States many children are born to unmarried mothers, with the result that the father is not available to fulfill the social or economic functions that are typically associated with parenthood.

For Whites and non-Whites, Fig. 1.1 shows births to unmarried women as a ratio of births to all women. These data show for Whites that betweeen 1940 and 1985, the ratio rose from about 20 per 1,000 births to 145 per 1,000 births. This is an increase of 725% in 45 years. For non-Whites, the ratio rose from 168 per 1,000 to 514 per 1,000, a 306% increase. These results imply that 14.5% of all White children and 51.4% of all non-White children born in 1985 were born to unmarried mothers. For Black children the figure was 60.1%, or 3 in 5. During the last 45 years, then, marked increases have occurred in the proportion of both White and non-White children who were born into a family situation in which the father was not available to perform the social, emotional, and economic functions of parenthood.

This situation changes as time passes, however, and these unmarried mothers marry, bringing a stepfather into the household. Figure 1.2 shows the proportion of never-married women with an out-of-wedlock birth who subsequently had married by 1985 when they reached a specified age. These data indicate that marriage increases substantially with increasing age for women who were never married at the time of their first birth. A small minority of such women 15–19 years old, 19%, had remarried by 1985, but the proportion rises rapidly to a large minority, 42%, for women 20–24 years old, and then to a substantial majority, 61% for women 25–29 years old, and finally to very large majorities of 80% or more for women 35 years and over. As result of such marriages, many children who enter life in a one-parent family later enter a two-parent situation when the mother marries.

FIG. 1.1. Births to unmarried women: 1940 to 1985 (source: National Center for Health Statistics, 1986a, 1987a, 1987b)

FIG. 1.2. Proportion of never-married women with an out-of-wedlock birth who had subsequently married by 1985 by age of woman

Divorce is the third major demographic variable that has influenced the extent to which children live with two parents or with one parent. Figure 1.3 shows that with temporary peaks following the two world wars and a temporary trough during the Great Depression, the annual divorce rate has risen from about 1 divorce per 1,000 married women age 15 and over in 1860 to 22.8 in 1979. After 1979 the trend in the divorce rate turned around, falling about 5% between 1979 and 1985. The long-term rise in divorce, and the especially rapid rise begining in 1968 tended to increase the proportion of children living with only one parent, as is shown later. The recent decrease in the divorce rate should lead eventually to a halt and perhaps a turnaround in the rising proportion of children experiencing a parental divorce. Perhaps more likely than a sharp future decline in divorce, however, is a leveling off. If the divorce rate does not decline notably during the coming years, the proportion of children who experience a parental divorce will remain relatively high, at least by long-term historical standards.

Remarriage among divorced women with children is the fourth major demographic variable that has influenced the extent to which children live with one or with two parents, and in particular the extent to which they live with a divorced mother but no father in the home or with a remarried mother and a stepfather. Figure 1.4 shows overall that remarriage occurs for the majority of women who divorce and who have at least one child at the time of the divorce. The results as of 1985 range from a small majority of 57% remarried among women who had four or more children at the time of their divorce to a substantial majority of 68% of women who had one child at the time of the divorce. Because many of these women were relatively young at the time of the survey, the proportion who will ever remarry is larger still. Figure 1.4 also shows that the proportions remarried are much larger among the younger cohorts of women, ranging for women who are under age 30 from 72% to 82% remarried, depending on the number of children at the time of the divorce (see Norton & Moorman, 1987, for an extended discussion of marriage, divorce, and remarriage trends between 1970 and 1985). These results indicate that many children who spend time in a one-parent family due to divorce will subsequently spend time in a two-parent family with their mother and a stepfather.

FIG 1.3 Divorce rate: 1860 to 1985 (source: Jacobson, 1959; National Center for Health Statistics, 1986b, 1987c, 1987d)

Marriages of single parents and remarriages of divorced parents lead to blended families with stepparents and stepchildren, but as Cherlin (1981) suggested, such blended families can involve complications and difficulties for the parents, stepparents, and stepchildren involved. Historically, the increase in the proportion of children who live with a stepparent is the result of (a) the sharp rise in the proportion of all births that are accounted for by births to unmarried women, and the associated increase in the number of post-birth marriages among women who have borne one or more children out-of-wedlock; and (b) the great increase in the divorce rate, and the associated increase in the number of remarriages among women with children.

FIG. 1.4. Proportion of ever-divorced women with children at the time of divorce who had remarried by 1985 by age of woman and by number of children at the time of divorce

This review of four major demographic trends suggest, in a general way, how and why the living arrangements of children changed during recent decades. But a more precise understanding of the implications of demographic changes for the parental living arrangements of children requires an analysis focused directly upon these living arrangements.

PARENTAL LIVING ARRANGEMENTS OF CHILDREN

Glick and Norton (1979; Glick, 1979) used data from the Decennial Census and the Current Population Survey to develop early analyses and projections of long-term trends in the parental living arrangements of children under 18 years of age. As shown in Fig. 1.5, which summarizes their results, marked changes have occurred and may continue to occur in the family situation of children.

In 1960 about 88 % of all children were living with two parents, including natural, step- and adoptive parents. But...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• Part I The Demographics of Divorce and Remarriage
• Part II Divorce and the Legal System: Mediation and Custody
• Part III Divorce and Single Parenting
• Part IV Remarriage and Stepparenting
• Author Index
• Subject Index