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How single fathers fare
Monday, March 16, 1998
Here are some trends in single custodial fatherhood, culled from various studies and compiled by the National Fatherhood Initiative:
In a small University of Florida study gauging life satisfaction of men and women, married and single, with children and childless, single fathers were found to be the unhappiest of the entire group.
Single fathers tend to be worse off in terms of income and labor market outcomes than their married counterparts.
In a study sample of 1,250 fathers of school-age children, single fathers spent significantly more time with their children than fathers in two-parent families. Children of single fathers, however, fared the worst academically of all children, suggesting that something besides the amount of contact is at work.
In research using a 5 percent sub-sample of the U.S. Census, 4 percent of children lived in father-only families. Of these children, one quarter lived only with their divorced or separated father; a third lived with the father's cohabiting partner; and a third lived with other adults.
The same study found that never-married fathers are the least likely of all fathers to be steadily employed.
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