The increase of single parent families: An examination of causes

lOver the past three decades the number of children born out-of-wedlock has increased dramatically, from 224,300 in 1960 to 1,165,384 in 1990 (Departm ent of Health and Human Services, 1995: p. 83). During this same period the birth rate for married women actually declined from 157 per 1000 women in 1960 to 93 per 1000 in 1990 (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1993). The proportion o f this increase and its impact upon related social services have made it a focus of attention for policy analysts and policy makers alike. The result of the exchange on the subject is three credible and supported causal theor ies. One I shall call the public policy theory whose principal advocate is Charles Murray (Murray, 1984). He argues that much of the increase in singl e parent families is a direct result of more liberal welfare policy. The se cond, I shall call the dislocation theory. Its advocate, William Julius Wil son in The Truly Disadvantaged, The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, asserts that this increase results from the unavailability of singl e, employed African-American males in urban America (Wilson, 1987). The thi rd and final theory posits that the increase in single parent families is a n outgrowth of the decline in forced or `shotgun weddings.' I shall call th is the cultural theory (Akerlof, et al., 1996: pp. 277-317).(1)