American exceptionalism in a new light: a comparison of

intergenerational earnings mobility in the Nordic countries, the

United Kingdom, and the United States.
Jntti, Bratsberg, Roed, Raaum, Naylor, Osterbacka, Bjorklund, Eriksson, 2006

Father absence and child well-being: A critical review

Wendy Sigle-Rushton and Sara McLanahan, 2004

Lauren Lerullo
Beatriz Jimenez
Gerrit KreFfer
UPF 28-1-2016

Current data on families in the USA

Jntti, Bratsberg, Roed, Raaum, Naylor, Osterbacka,

Bjorklund, Eriksson, 2006
American exceptionalism in a new light: a
comparison of intergenerational earnings mobility in
the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, and the
United States.
Wendy Sigle-Rushton and Sara McLanahan, 2004
Father absence and child well-being: A critical review
DISCUSSION
Lauren Lerullo
Beatriz Jimenez
Gerrit KreFfer
UPF 28-1-2016
2 / 20

How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion

Jntti et al: American exceptionalism in a new light

PROBLEM: No standardised methodological approach
DATA

Countries: US, UK, DK, SW, FI, NO

Income: family, individual earnings, from all sources
Father income around 1974 at age 46
Sons and daughters income around 2000 at age 30-42

METHODS
Quintile group income mobility matrices
Bootstrap techniques to create confidence intervals
Summary measures of mobility based on the estimated mobility
matrices: MT, ML, MF

How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion

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 Jntti : Example quintile group income mobility

matrix US for sons

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Jntti et al : Main findings

All countries exhibit substantial earnings persistence across generations, but with
statistically significant differences across countries.
The U.S. and the U.K. have highest rates of intergenerational persistence and less
socio-economic mobility than Nordic countries.
In U.S. high likelihood that sons of poorest fathers will remain in the lowest earnings
quintile. Very low likelihood that sons of highest earners will have downward mobility.
Jantti et al examines the extent of earnings persistence across generations by the
estimation of simple parent-child elasticities and correlations. We know far less about the
detailed nature of mobility and persistence at different points of the bivariate
distributions.
Very few studies are explicitly comparative in construction, relying instead on a
comparison of estimates drawn from independent country-specific studies.

How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion

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Jntti et al : Our comments

1. Eight authors, a lot of labour went into it, not easy to understand
the methods
2. However, good study.
3. Still it is only a snapshot of a difference between countries at a
given time
4. Remarkable how little difference there is between countries and
also how stable the income inequality over generations.
5. Title is American exceptionalism in an new light
What is that new light?
We guess the fact that we now have more detailed insights thanks
to the matrices, which supplement the old elasticities and
correlation coefficients.
How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion

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Wendy Sigle-Rushton and Sara

McLanahan
2004
Father absence and child wellbeing:
A critical review
How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion

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INTRODUCTION

Patterns of family formation have changed dramatically in the United States.

Highest proportion of children born outside of a union and the highest rates of divorce and union dissolution.
Single mother families in the United States have high rates of poverty and rely disproportionately on public
assistance.
Review of what is known about the life chances of children raised in single-mother families and the extent to
which they are disadvantaged relative to their peers.
Main concern
get to know if the father absence has negative consequences also in adulthood.

THE PREVALENCE OF SINGLE-PARENT

FAMILIES FROM 1960 TO 2000

RACE

One of three children in the US today is born outside marriage, and the proportion is twice as high among
African American.
In 1960 African American children were about 3 times as likely as white to live in a one parent family
For white children, the biggest increase in single parenthood occurred during the 1970s and for black children
big increases occurred during the 1960s and 1970s.
Divorce is a particularly important path for white children, accounting for about 70 % of the growth in single
mother families between 1960 and 1980. In contrast, divorce is less important for African American families.
Childbearing is the second most important component of the growth in single mother families and the most
important among African American

INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS

On average, children who live with a single-mother fare poorly across a wide range of adolescent and adult
outcomes, including educational achievement, economic security, and physical and psychological well-being.
For example,children raised apart from their biological fathers may drop out of school, leave home, and
have a child earlier than children raised with two parent families.

ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND EDUCATIONAL

ATTAINMENT
Importance of educational qualifications :the negative relationship between family structure and childrens
academic success is a major concern.
Children who live in single mother families score lower on measures of academic achievement than those in
two-parent families.
Although children in stepparent families score higher than those in other one-parent families, their scores are over
one-fourth of a standard deviation lower than those of children with two biological parents.
On average, children living with both biological parents remain in school longer and attain higher educational
qualifications than children in one -parent families. In particular,children with absent fathers are more likely to
drop out of school than children who live with their fathers.
About 71% of children who lived with two biological parents went on to college,while only 50% of those living
with only their mothers made this transition.
Controlling for age and gender: each additional year spent with a single mother reduces a childs education by
half a year.

CHILDHOOD BEHAVIORAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL

PROBLEMS AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Father absence
generate feelings of abandonment and stress.We should therefore not be surprised to learn that father
absence is associated with a higher incidence of behavioral and psychological problems.
Children who experience divorce from their parents are more likely to suffer from behavioral problems, boys suffer more
psychological than girls.
*For example, when we look at anxiety and depression, boys and girls appear to have similar response to divorce. Children
in families that have separated recently appear to have the most problems.
Association between single-parent families and aggressive behavior : we should not be surprised to learn that children
who live apart from their biological fathers are more likely to use illegal substances and to have early contact with the
police.
Drugs consumption
drug consumption.

number of years spent with a biological father is negatively associated with police contact and

Smoking
children who live apart from their biological fathers are also 19% more likely to smoke cigarettes regularly
than other children.
Drinking alcohol

negative behavior that shows no significant correlation with single parenthood.

LIFE TRANSITIONS

Numerous studies have found a strong association between time in a single-parent family and early life
transitions
children who spend part of their childhood in a single-mother family are more likely to have sex
at an early age.
Young women from two -parent families have a 6% chance of having a child outside marriage by age twenty,
young women from single mother, divorced and never-married, families have an 11 and 14% chance.
Early sexual experience is a concern if it leads to early childbearing or home leaving.
Early partnerships
less stable and more likely to dissolve than relationships formed later in life

PHYSICAL HEALTH

Few studies have looked at the association between father absence and adult physical health and these
studies tend to focus on children that experienced parental divorce.
Adults whose parents divorced, and men who experienced a parental death
report lower satisfaction with
their health.
In addition to poorer physical health, psychological and behavior problems also persist into adulthood.
Adults who come from single mother families report less -esteem and higher use of mental health services than
adults who come from two-parent families.

Partnership Satisfaction and Economic

Well-Being
Partnership satisfaction

Children who experienced a divorce are more likely to divorce

themselves.

Economic well being

.

Strong link between growing up in a single mother family and adult

earnings and income
two parent family > 7% children under poverty line
one parent > 14% under poverty line
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Why do single-parent children not do as

well? Selection into father absence
1.

An observed or unobserved characteristic is responsible for father absence and

child outcome.

2.

In general taking pre divorce circumstances into account associations

diminish

3.

In research this is dealt with by comparing outcomes of children of the same

family with different family experiences (born pre and after divorce etc.)

4.

Selection is however not the whole story, looking at children who lost a parent
through death. Here there is no/less preselection but still outcomes are worse
than in two parent families.
But less than with divorce.
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Parental Loss
PLP is a theory that explains why children living away from their fathers might do less
well than children that live with their fathers.
Socialization Deficit Perspective Children are deprived of important parental
resources when they do not have two residential parents.
Interaction between two parents teaches children interpersonal skills
(communication, cooperation, conflict resolution) they will need as adults, and not
having them may make them less successful in school, at work, and in personal
relationships.
Social Control Theory Link between adult supervision and child behavior. The
more adults to monitor the children, the greater the social control, and the lower the
frequency of problem behaviours.

Parental Loss
The effects of parental death are usually smaller than those of divorce or separation,
which is inconsistent with parental loss perspective.
The presence of the same-sex parent teaches young children appropriate gendered
behavior, meaning that father absence is especially problematic for boys.
Conflicting studies. we cant conclude that children who experience father absence
from birth are different than those who experience it later.
Children in stepparent families fare just as badly as children in single-mother families.
This is surprising considering incomes are higher and there is more parent-child time
than in single-mother families. Stepparents are less committed to child with no
biological tie, psychological attachment, and there is a lack of norms about
stepparents responsibilities/role.

Parental Loss
Research on outcomes of children from never-married mothers and mothers who
divorced early compared to those that divorced later is not clear. Outcomes of
children have been studied few times and only recently. Researchers rarely know
if the never-married mother ever lived with the biological father.
Given the rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing and cohabitating couples, marital
status alone is no longer an adequate measure of family structure.
How can research improve?
Careful comparisons between children born into mother-only families, and those
that enter them at an early age, with children who experience disruption and
death at later ages would provide some useful evidence for or against the
socialization and the social control perspectives.

Life Course Perspective

Life course model focuses on changes that typically go along with parental loss.
3 important disadvantages that accompany father absence: economic insecurity,
inadequate mothering, and reduced social capital.
Single mothers are more likely to live in poorer areas resulting in neighbourhood
effects on children.
Because single mothers frequently work longer hours than married mothers, they
may have less time and energy to devote to childrearing. Single mothers may have
weaker parental authority structures and make fewer demands on their children.
Children from Nordic countries had lower achievement gaps between single parent
and dual parent families than those from southern European countries with lower
welfare state support.

Comments
1. It is, as the title states a review, critical on (US)
research so far.
2. Whats new compared to:
How children are faring under the SDT (McLanahan also)
Childhood investment and skill formation (Esping-Andersen?

3. Focus is on lower social classes. What if the mother is

a highly skilled, high-earning professional?

DISCUSSIO
N
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Discussion
1. If we look at the theory and findings of the influence of Father
Absence on the inequality among children
What policy action do you think is most important?

2. We are looking at the causes of social inequality

After all you read and heard today: Are families really
the cause ?

Thank you!

Putnam takes research to a look at the future:

Putnam focusses on the early years of a
persons life, the role that family, schools
and neigbourhood play
Sees a hardening of class boundaries
A crisis awaits us as deprived children grow
up and have children of their own
Action must be taken now, to head off future
disruptions
Can any realizable reform overcome the
depths of the gap between rich and poor, or
black and white documented by Putnam?

How families reproduce social inequality > Intergenerational earnings mobility > Father absence and child well-being > Discussion> Putnam

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