Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families

Updated April 6, 2024 | Posted August 1, 2022
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
A mother and her child are standing outdoors, each with one arm wrapped around the other. They are looking at each other and smiling. The child has a basketball in hand.

This post high­lights the lat­est sta­tis­tics and demo­graph­ic trends involv­ing chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. It iden­ti­fies some com­mon hur­dles fac­ing these fam­i­lies and shares oppor­tu­ni­ties for sup­port­ing both sin­gle par­ents and their children.

Defin­ing Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Cen­ter uses U.S. Cen­sus Bureau data to define chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. This demo­graph­ic group describes any child under age 18 who lives with an unmar­ried par­ent. Chil­dren liv­ing with cohab­it­ing cou­ples are includ­ed in this group, but chil­dren liv­ing with mar­ried par­ents and step­par­ents are not.

Sta­tis­tics About Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

In the Unit­ed States today, more than 23 mil­lion chil­dren live in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly. This total, has risen over the last half cen­tu­ry and cur­rent­ly cov­ers about one in every three kids across Amer­i­ca. A num­ber of long-term demo­graph­ic trends have fueled this increase, includ­ing: mar­ry­ing lat­er, declin­ing mar­riage rates, increas­ing divorce rates and an uptick in babies born to sin­gle mothers.

With­in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, most chil­dren — 14.3 mil­lion — live in moth­er-only house­holds. More than 6 mil­lion kids live with cohab­it­ing par­ents and about 3.5 mil­lion kids live in father-only house­holds, accord­ing to 2022 estimates.

Among unmar­ried par­ents, the share of sin­gle moth­ers has shrunk in recent decades while the share of cohab­it­ing par­ents has grown.

Sta­tis­tics by Race, Eth­nic­i­ty and Fam­i­ly Nativity

The like­li­hood of a child liv­ing in a sin­­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly varies by race, eth­nic­i­ty and fam­i­ly nativ­i­ty. Research indi­cates that dif­fer­ences by race and eth­nic­i­ty are tied to socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus, dis­cussed in more detail below. Data from 2022 indi­cates that:

  • Black and Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native kids are most like­ly to live in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies with 63% and 50% of these chil­dren, respec­tive­ly, fit­ting this demographic. 
  • White (24%) and Asian and Pacif­ic Islander (16%) kids are least like­ly to live in a sin­­gle-par­ent household.
  • Lati­no chil­dren and mul­tira­cial kids fall in the mid­dle — with 42% and 39% of kids from these groups, respec­tive­ly, liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent family.

Fam­i­ly nativ­i­ty also makes a dif­fer­ence. Chil­dren in immi­grant fam­i­lies are more like­ly to live with mar­ried par­ents than their peers in non-immi­grant fam­i­lies. This has been true since the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter began track­ing this mea­sure in the ear­ly 2000s. In 2022, more than a third (37%) of kids in U.S.-born fam­i­lies lived in a sin­­gle-par­ent house­hold com­pared to just a quar­ter (25%) of kids in immi­grant families.

Sin­gle-Par­ent Fam­i­ly Dif­fer­ences by State, City and Con­gres­sion­al District

The like­li­hood that a child lives in a sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­ly varies by location.

At the state lev­el, this sta­tis­tic varies — from about one in five (19%) kids in Utah to almost half (46%) of kids in Louisiana liv­ing in a sin­gle-par­ent household.

Kids in single parent families 2022
State-lev­el look at chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent families.

Among the 50 most pop­u­lous U.S. cities with data in 2022: The share of chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies ranged from one in four (25%) in San Fran­cis­co to more than two-thirds (71%) in Detroit. The KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter also pro­vides this by Con­gres­sion­al Dis­trict, which indi­cates even greater vari­a­tion local­ly — from a low of 14% in​New Jersey’s Dis­trict 11 to a high of 65% in New York’s Dis­trict 15.

Sta­tis­tics on Sin­gle-Par­ent Homes and Poverty

Fam­i­ly struc­ture and socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus are close­ly linked, accord­ing to decades of research. Increas­ing­ly, mar­riage reflects a class divide, as indi­vid­u­als with high­er incomes and edu­ca­tion lev­els are much more like­ly to mar­ry. In 2022near­ly 30% of sin­­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies lived in below the fed­er­al pover­ty lev­el while just 6% of mar­ried-cou­­ple fam­i­lies. Sin­gle par­ents are also more like­ly to live in pover­ty when com­pared to cohab­it­ing cou­ples, and sin­gle moth­ers are much more like­ly to be poor com­pared to sin­gle fathers.

Com­mon Chal­lenges of Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

A num­ber of fac­tors have fueled the rise in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies. For instance: More peo­ple are opt­ing to mar­ry lat­er in life, skip mar­riage alto­geth­er and have kids out­side of mar­riage. At the same time, mar­riages have grown more like­ly to end in divorce.

More than 20% of chil­dren born to mar­ried cou­ples will expe­ri­ence a divorce by age 9 and more than 50% of kids born to cohab­it­ing cou­ples will expe­ri­ence a parental breakup, accord­ing to some estimates.

Major changes in parental rela­tion­ships, such as tran­si­tion­ing from a two-par­ent to a sin­­gle-par­ent house­hold, can dis­rupt a child’s rou­tines, edu­ca­tion, hous­ing arrange­ments and fam­i­ly income. It can also add parental con­flict and stress. These changes can be very dif­fi­cult — and even trau­mat­ic — for some children.

Com­pared to kids in mar­ried-par­ent house­holds, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence poor out­comes. Research indi­cates that these dif­fer­ences in child well-being tend to be small, though, and can dis­ap­pear when adjust­ing for key fac­tors like pover­ty. While the research is com­plex, some­times con­tra­dic­to­ry and evolv­ing, mount­ing evi­dence indi­cates that under­ly­ing fac­tors — such as strong and sta­ble rela­tion­ships, parental men­tal health, socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus and access to resources — have a greater impact on child suc­cess than does fam­i­ly struc­ture itself.

Chil­dren thrive when they have safe, sta­ble and nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ments and rela­tion­ships, and these con­di­tions and con­nec­tions can exist in any type of family.

Socioe­co­nom­ic Dis­ad­van­tage and Its Impact on Children

Sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies — and espe­cial­ly moth­er-only house­holds — are far more like­ly to live in pover­ty com­pared to mar­ried-par­ent house­holds. Giv­en this, kids of sin­gle par­ents are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence the con­se­quences of grow­ing up poor. Chil­dren in pover­ty are more like­ly to have phys­i­cal, men­tal and behav­ioral health prob­lems, dis­rupt­ed brain devel­op­ment, short­er edu­ca­tion­al tra­jec­to­ries, con­tact with the child wel­fare and jus­tice sys­tems, employ­ment chal­lenges in adult­hood and more.

Many fam­i­lies are low-income but sit above the fed­er­al­ly-defined pover­ty line. Chil­dren from these fam­i­lies are also more like­ly to have poor life out­comes com­pared to those in high­er-income fam­i­lies. Addi­tion­al­ly, low-income kids (below or above the pover­ty line) often live in less safe com­mu­ni­ties with lim­it­ed access to qual­i­ty health care, sup­port ser­vices and enrich­ing activ­i­ties — all of which influ­ence their abil­i­ty to thrive.

Researchers have also linked pover­ty to parental stress. Sin­gle par­ents may strug­gle to cov­er their family’s basic needs, includ­ing food, util­i­ties, hous­ing, child care, cloth­ing and trans­porta­tion. Nav­i­gat­ing these strug­gles alone — and with lim­it­ed resources — can send stress lev­els soar­ing. High parental stress, in turn, can spark even more chal­lenges and adverse out­comes among the chil­dren involved.

Also worth not­ing: Pover­ty lev­els for Black, Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native and Lati­no chil­dren are con­sis­tent­ly above the nation­al aver­age, and these gen­er­a­tions-long inequities per­sist regard­less of fam­i­ly structure.

Poten­tial Emo­tion­al and Behav­ioral Impact on Children

While most chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent house­holds grow up to be well-adjust­ed adults, kids from sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies may be more like­ly to face emo­tion­al and behav­ioral health chal­lenges — like engag­ing in high-risk behav­iors — when com­pared to peers raised by mar­ried par­ents. Research has linked these chal­lenges with fac­tors often asso­ci­at­ed with sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, such as parental stress, parental breakups, wit­ness­ing con­flict, lost social net­works, mov­ing homes and socioe­co­nom­ic hurdles.

Chil­dren of sin­gle moth­ers may face addi­tion­al chal­lenges. For instance: Depres­sion, which can neg­a­tive­ly impact par­ent­ing, is com­mon among recent­ly divorced moth­ers. Solo moms often lack ade­quate social sup­port and can face social stig­ma, as well.

Such hard­ships would be dif­fi­cult for any child. But kids can recov­er and thrive — par­tic­u­lar­ly when raised with the ben­e­fits of nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ships, sta­bil­i­ty, and men­tal health support.

Poten­tial Impact on Child Development

Experts increas­ing view child devel­op­ment dis­rup­tions through the lens of adverse child­hood expe­ri­ences (ACEs). These poten­tial­ly trau­mat­ic events can take many forms, such as divorce or parental sep­a­ra­tion, pover­ty, expe­ri­enc­ing men­tal health chal­lenges or , sub­stance abuse at home, expo­sure to vio­lence, and so forth. ACEs can cause​“tox­ic stress,” which can lead to last­ing, dele­te­ri­ous con­se­quences on a child’s phys­i­cal and men­tal health, edu­ca­tion and oth­er life outcomes.

The risk of ACE expo­sure varies by a child’s race and eth­nic­i­ty, with Amer­i­can Indi­an or Alas­ka Native and Black chil­dren more like­ly to expe­ri­ence mul­ti­ple ACEs than peers from oth­er racial and eth­nic cat­e­gories. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, how­ev­er: The more ACEs a child expe­ri­ences, the greater the risk of harm­ful effects, regard­less of fam­i­ly structure.

Poten­tial Influ­ence on Education

Aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly speak­ing, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies are more like­ly to drop out of high school when com­pared to peers with mar­ried par­ents. This height­ened risk is like­ly due to fac­tors asso­ci­at­ed with many sin­gle-par­ent house­holds; research indi­cates that chil­dren few­er eco­nom­ic, social and parental resources, more fam­i­ly insta­bil­i­ty, and more ACEs are at increased risk of poor edu­ca­tion­al out­comes — includ­ing drop­ping out of school.

Changes in Time Spent with Parents

While every fam­i­ly sit­u­a­tion is unique, chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent house­holds are like­ly to have less time with their par­ent when com­pared to peers in cohab­it­ing- or mar­ried-cou­ple house­holds. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly true if that par­ent works more than one job or long hours to make ends meet.

After a divorce or parental breakup, chil­dren often have less time with their non­res­i­dent par­ent, which is typ­i­cal­ly the father. Main­tain­ing an involved, nur­tur­ing rela­tion­ship with the non­cus­to­di­al par­ent is high­ly impor­tant for a child’s well-being.

A Bet­ter Infra­struc­ture and Stronger Safe­ty Net for Families

Many pro­gram and pol­i­cy strate­gies exist to sup­port chil­dren in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies and to reduce inequities due to race, eth­nic­i­ty and socioe­co­nom­ic sta­tus. For exam­ple, out­comes for these chil­dren can be improved by:

  • Strength­en­ing finan­cial and health care safe­ty net pro­grams and improv­ing afford­able hous­ing, which can reduce insta­bil­i­ty and parental stress.
  • Pro­vid­ing afford­able, acces­si­ble high-qual­i­ty ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, which has crit­i­cal ben­e­fits for child devel­op­ment and sup­ports parental employ­ment and fam­i­ly stability.
  • Max­i­miz­ing two-gen­er­a­tion com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment strate­gies that improve the qual­i­ty of equi­table oppor­tu­ni­ties for qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion for kids while build­ing job and par­ent­ing skills for the adults in their lives. Also, pro­mot­ing pol­i­cy changes to ensure that full-time jobs pay enough to cov­er basic needs and offer paid fam­i­ly leave, which has been shown to improve par­ent and child health. 
  • Sup­port­ing the needs of young par­ents and also young fathers, espe­cial­ly those of color.
  • Offer­ing trau­ma-informed and cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate ser­vices — such as home-vis­it­ing ser­vices, par­ent edu­ca­tion, men­tal health care and sub­stance use treat­ment — that address parental stress and sup­port fam­i­ly relationships.
  • Improv­ing access to trau­­ma-informed and cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive ser­vices — such as home-vis­it­ing ser­vices, par­ent edu­ca­tion, men­tal health care and sub­stance use treat­ment — that address parental stress and sup­port fam­i­ly relationships.
  • Address­ing insti­tu­tion­al racism across pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors, includ­ing health care and edu­ca­tion, to expand equi­table access to qual­i­ty ser­vices and oth­er resources.

Strengths of Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

Many sin­gle par­ents pro­vide sta­ble, lov­ing envi­ron­ments and rela­tion­ships for their chil­dren. Exam­ples of how sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies can ben­e­fit chil­dren include:

  • Solo par­ents may have more time to focus on their kids if they no longer need to spend time focus­ing on the needs of their spouse or partner.
  • Years of fight­ing may pre­cede a divorce or sep­a­ra­tion. End­ing this con­flict and pro­vid­ing calm home envi­ron­ments is impor­tant for chil­dren and can reduce stress for the entire family. 

Chang­ing the Con­ver­sa­tion About Chil­dren in Sin­gle-Par­ent Families

Chil­dren can thrive in any fam­i­ly struc­ture, and fam­i­ly struc­tures often change over time. Fam­i­ly types have also become more diverse, with blend­ed step-fam­i­lies, same-sex par­ent fam­i­lies, chil­dren liv­ing with rel­a­tives and more. Children’s rela­tion­ships to their par­ents or care­givers may be bio­log­i­cal, adop­tive, step, kin, fos­ter care or oth­er. It is increas­ing­ly impor­tant to rec­og­nize the diver­si­ty of fam­i­ly com­po­si­tions rather than dis­cussing them as only two or three groups. 

In addi­tion, sin­gle par­ents who choose to have kids through donors or sur­ro­ga­cy may not have the same socioe­co­nom­ic dis­ad­van­tages, lack of sup­port or parental stress asso­ci­at­ed with oth­er sin­gle par­ents. As we think about fam­i­ly struc­ture and sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies, it may be help­ful to keep in mind these nuanced and evolv­ing issues.

For many years, the con­ver­sa­tion among researchers, advo­cates, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and oth­ers regard­ing sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies has focused on how this fam­i­ly type might neg­a­tive­ly affect chil­dren. What if, instead, we focus on what chil­dren need to thrive?

We know that all young peo­ple — includ­ing kids in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies — flour­ish when they have car­ing, com­mit­ted rela­tion­ships with par­ents or oth­er lov­ing care­givers. We also know the impor­tance of safe, sta­ble homes, com­mu­ni­ties and fam­i­lies that have ade­quate socioe­co­nom­ic resources, social sup­ports and ser­vices. Focus­ing on qual­i­ty-of-life expe­ri­ences and ensur­ing equi­table access to oppor­tu­ni­ties can help young peo­ple reach their full poten­tial.

Learn More About Vul­ner­a­ble Fam­i­lies and Stay Connected

For decades, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has pro­mot­ed the well-being of vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren and youth, includ­ing those in sin­gle-par­ent fam­i­lies and in pover­ty. The Foun­da­tion has tracked data, pub­lished resources, sup­port­ed pro­grams and advo­cat­ed for poli­cies to improve the lives of these chil­dren, youth and fam­i­lies. Explore the Foundation’s many pub­li­ca­tions, tools and best prac­tices, blog posts and oth­er resources, such as:

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