{"id":5967,"date":"2024-01-04T18:33:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T18:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/?p=5967"},"modified":"2024-01-04T18:33:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T18:33:01","slug":"two-parent-privilege-the-privilege-that-just-keeps-dwindling-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/strongermarriages\/2024\/01\/two-parent-privilege-the-privilege-that-just-keeps-dwindling-in-america.html","title":{"rendered":"Two-Parent Privilege: The Privilege That Just Keeps Dwindling in America"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Author of the new book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind<\/em><\/a>, is sharing her book\u2019s findings and offering stark warnings to Americans. \u201cWe have mounds of evidence and data and objective studies showing that kids who grow up with the benefit of two parents in their home, their homes are characterized by higher levels of resources,\u201d author Melissa Kearney told \u201cAmerica\u2019s Newsroom.\u201d She told Fox News<\/em><\/a> that the problem was more than moral. \u201cThis is something as an economic matter, not as a value-laden or moral proposition we should all be really concerned about,\u201d she said. It\u2019s a problem that, if solved, could lessen the economic gap between races in America. \u201cThis is why, from an inequality perspective, this matters so much, because the class and racial gaps in kids’ access really to having a stable, highly resourced two-parent home are driving a lot of these class and racial gaps in society. If we don’t break this, we should not be surprised that we’re sort of cementing advantage and disadvantage across race and class groups in America,\u201d she warned. 64 percent of black children<\/a> were being raised in single-parent households in the United States, primarily with single mothers, the highest number in any ethnic group. American Indian was second with 52 percent, followed by Hispanic\/ Latino with 42 percent. That number was 24<\/a> percent for those who are non-Hispanic white. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian families have continued to rank lower in economic success than their white counterparts.<\/p>\n

Kearney has suggested a number of economic policies to encourage two-parent households, including increasing skills for low-skilled men to make them more appealing as marriage partners. The Institute for Family Studies (IFS), however, doubted focusing on just economic changes. \u201cOne suspects Kearney emphasizes a spending-forward approach because it is the approach her target audience is willing to swallow,\u201d IFS<\/a> said of her book. \u201cFine, it makes sense, as her readers might say, to give parents a little more cash, train low-skilled men, and implement criminal justice reform\u2014all things they favor anyway. But the choice to get married, and to remain in a stable, two-parent relationship is not a purely economic one. It is, in fact, primarily a matter of people\u2019s individual normative judgements, insofar as any couple, rich or poor, can choose to stay together when it is good for their children.\u201d Speaking to the Brookings Institute<\/a>, Kearney acknowledged that both economic supports and family structure were important. \u201cI think this should not be an either\/or. We can recognize that the absence of a second parent, often a dad from the household, puts a lot of burden on the single moms who are doing this by themselves, and it disadvantages kids. At the same time, [we can say] that we need a stronger safety net to help families who are under-resourced in an economic way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author of the new book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind, is sharing her book\u2019s findings and offering stark warnings to Americans. \u201cWe have mounds of evidence and data and objective studies showing that kids who grow up with the benefit of two parents in their home, their homes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":5973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo-Parent Privilege: The Privilege That Just Keeps Dwindling in America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Author Melissa Kearney is sharing her book\u2019s findings and offering stark warnings to Americans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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