Children and Social Security by Jonathan Bradshaw

Author:Jonathan Bradshaw [Bradshaw, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138722248
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Demographic trends

International studies on lone parents show that New Zealand is an outlier in terms of policies and outcomes for those families (Bradshaw et al., 1996, 2000; Stephens, 2000). New Zealand has double the average share of lone parent families, very low employment rates, a large difference between lone and married mother employment rates, but a moderate child poverty rate (Table 2.3.2). The US is also an outlier, with a high incidence of child poverty despite a high employment rate. This contrasts with the OECD (1993) finding that employment reduces the likelihood of poverty.

Column 1 of Table 2.3.2 shows that cultural, religious and ethnic factors are important determinants of lone parenting. In 1992 the US and New Zealand had the highest proportion of lone parent families in the OECD.5 There is a gap to the northern European and Anglo countries at about 20 per cent. In southern Europe the proportion of lone parent families is around ten per cent, and only five per cent in Japan.

The growth of single parenting has been more marked in the US and New Zealand. In 1975, the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand, Australia and UK all had ten per cent of families with children headed by lone parents, and the US 17 per cent. Twenty years later, the US had 32 per cent and New Zealand 27 per cent, with the other countries around 20 per cent. The increase results from a mix of divorce levels, ex-nuptial births, ethnicity and teenage pregnancy issues (Stephens, 2000).

In both the US and New Zealand half of lone mothers are separated or divorced, with divorce more likely in the US. The fastest growing segment is never-married, increasing from 17 per cent to 45 per cent between 1980 and 1995. This group of lone mothers are younger, have less educational qualifications, work experience and younger children, all factors associated with an increased risk of child poverty.6

Both countries top the charts in terms of teenage births - the US missed the decline in teen fertility after the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1970s, while New Zealand has had an increase in teen fertility over the last ten years (Singh and Darroch, 2000). Teen pregnancy in the US fell over the last ten years, but so did the abortion ratio, so that teen births fell only slightly. The New Zealand abortion rate is moderately high, but constant. The increase in fertility is due to a change in ethnic mix, with more Maori and Pacific people, who have substantially higher fertility and teen fertility, in this age group.

After standardising for factors resulting in high lone parenthood - age structure, income levels, unemployment and education - there is a strong ethnic dimension to lone parenthood. Two-fifths of Maori families are headed by a lone parent and 29 per cent of Pacific peoples, compared with 17 per cent for Europeans. In the US 64 per cent of African-American families are headed by a lone parent compared with 26 per cent for European and Hispanics.

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