FEMALE-HEADED FAMILIES - SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT OF RACIAL-DIFFERENCES

Three explanations of the high and rising incidence of female-headed f amilies and of racial differences in family structure are compared emp irically. These are the cultural thesis, the female autonomy thesis, a nd the marriage market thesis. The analysis is contextual and draws up on data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata sample, as well as other ce nsus materials. The authors found that black and white women are influ enced by different sets of contextual factors and that the probability that black women with children will be heads of family is significant ly related to the economic marginality and relative number of black ma les in the community within which they reside.