The benefit of 'the two-parent privilege'

Published November 20, 2023 at 5:00 AM EST

A couple push their child in a stroller along a sidewalk in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Virginia. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Almost a quarter of U.S. children under 18 live with a single parent and no other adults. That’s the highest rate in the world.

How’d it happen?

“We saw this new social norm forming where marriage wasn’t as important as it used to be for having kids. … That produced this decoupling of childbearing and marriage in effected populations and areas,” economics professor Melissa Kearney says.

Our guest says it’s hurting children.

“It’s pretty hard to say that we could do much to address the inequality in kids’ household resources and outcomes, if we don’t tackle this divergence in family structures.”

Today, On Point: The benefit of ‘the two-parent privilege.’

Guest

Melissa Kearney, professor of economics at the University of Maryland. Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. Author of “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.“

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.