OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market, social policy and migration studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language - English or French - with a summary in the other.
- ISSN: 1815199X (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/1815199X
Child Well-Being and Sole-Parent Family Structure in the OECD
An Analysis
This paper addresses the causal impact of being raised in a sole-parent family on child well-being
across the OECD. The question is answered by a cross-OECD meta-analysis and a literature review. There are widely varying rates of sole parenthood across the OECD. Rates of sole parenthood
have generally been rising in the past few decades. Inevitably, countries with higher rates of sole
parenthood are more concerned about the potential well-being effects on children. The reasons for
sole parenthood include never having partnered, having separated and divorced, and being widowed.
The composition of sole parents by these reasons varies widely across OECD countries. Views on the
desirability of two-parent families for raising children are also divergent across the OECD.
JEL:
J13: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth;
J12: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
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