Why children of married parents do better, but America is moving the other way
Almost half of all babies born in the U.S. are born to unmarried mothers. That's not good for children, says progressive economist Melissa Kearney in her new book, The Two-Parent Privilege.
The economist Melissa Kearney has been both vilified and praised for her new book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.
In the book, released last month, Kearney points out a rather obvious fact: Children raised by two parents have a much higher chance of success than those raised by one. Yet she goes even further to argue that whether parents are married or not impacts their children's success.
Her argument goes against the trend in the U.S.; American children are increasingly being born and raised by single mothers. The U.S. has the world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households, according to a 2019 study. Almost a quarter, or 23% of U.S. children under
