Single-Parent Families and Their Impact on Children: Changing Attitudes in the U.S., 1900-1998

Margaret Usdansky, Princeton University

Survey data indicate that Americans became increasingly accepting of divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing after 1960. But little is known about these attitudes prior to 1960 or about beliefs regarding the impact of divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing on children, which are likely to influence general perceptions of the acceptability of single-parent families. I use primary data I collected to explore changing views of single-parent families and their impact on children between 1900 and 1998. Rather than rely on limited attitudinal survey data, I draw a stratified random sample of articles about single-parent families published in popular American magazines and perform a content analysis. I use logistic and multinomial regression to explore change over time in depictions of the acceptability of single-parent families, the impact of single-parent families on children, and the ways single-parent families harm children. I also consider how the sex and occupation of the articles' authors affect these depictions.