As a collective group, The Bay Area Social Services Consortium (BASSC), requested technical assistance (TA) from the Welfare Peer TA Network. The request outlined BASSC’s desire to explore innovative policies and best practices in promoting two-parent families. This area of interest was in response to the President’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program goal […]
To learn about TANF and FSP eligibility and participation of two-parent families, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) to conduct an exploratory study. The goals of this study were (1) to determine appropriate data sources, methodologies, and data definitions for […]
This report presents national estimates of the duration of first and second marriages for women 15-44 years of age in 1995. National estimates of the probability of divorce given separation and of the probability of remarriage given divorce are also presented. The life-table estimates are based on a nationally representative sample of women 15-44 years […]
This is a body of research on families that are enduring, cohesive, affectionate, and mutually-appreciative, and in which family members communicate with one another frequently and fruitfully. They are families that raise children who go on to form successful families themselves. They are not necessarily families that are trouble-free. Some have experienced health problems, financial […]
This paper brings together a body of empirical evidence on how marriage affects the economic well-being of families with children. The paper considers the theoretical reasons marriage might enhance economic well-being, clarifies the empirical questions about the potential roles of marriage, and presents descriptive data and the evidence from empiricalstudies. The review deals with the […]
Policymakers at the state and federal levels are showing increased interest in programs designed to encourage family formation among unmarried parents through interventions like marriage education, relationship skills, co-parenting, and responsible fatherhood programs. Interest in unmarried parents is based on a concern that children in single-parent households do not fare as well as children raised […]
The decline in marriage and its serious consequences for poverty and inequality are well documented. This paper concentrates on how marriage, cohabitation, single parenthood and the presence of biological parents affect the incomes and material hardships of children. The study uses data from the National Survey of America’s Families to examine: 1) recent changes in […]
This paper examines the effect of marital and family status on the experience of material hardship, using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Among the key indicators of hardship are the ability to meet essential expenses, housing conditions, neighborhood problems (including crime, schools, public services), and having enough resources to buy […]
This paper examines the dynamics of marriage and family patterns and their relationship to living standards of a recent cohort of mothers. It is not obvious that married mothers should perform economically better than mothers in cohabitingrelationships or single mothers living with at least one other adult. But marriage is likely to raise living standards […]
This paper highlights the benefits of using the American Community Survey (ACS) including the ability to analyze data at the state and national levels, as well as explore the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and changing family structure. The following family structure variables are explored in the paper: estimated median age at first marriage, married and […]