Family Structure and Parental Investments: Economic Resources, Commitment, and Inequalities in Financial Investments in Children

• In Event: 2246 - Social Mobility and Intergenerational Relationships

Abstract

Family structure in the United States is undergoing important change and continued stratification with increases in single parenting and cohabiting unions. These transformations in family demography have important implications for social mobility as theory and empirical research suggest family structure plays an important causal role in shaping children's life chances, in part through the differential financial investments that parents make for their children's development. Drawing from the 2003-2017 Consumer Expenditure Surveys, we examine differences by family structure in parental financial investments in children's childcare, schooling, and enrichment activities. We compare differences between married, cohabiting, and single parents and we test two candidate pathways that might account for associations between family structure and financial investment in children: disparities in economic resources and differences in long-term commitment. Single and cohabiting parents make fewer parental investments than married parents. Income explains the entire difference for singles but less than half the gap for cohabiters, suggesting differences in commitment/preferences. Our work illustrates the heterogeneity in the extent and causes of familial inequalities in parental investments in children, which in turn has important implications for stratification and future inequality in America's opportunity structure.

Authors

• Orestes Pat Hastings, Colorado State University

• Daniel J. Schneider, University of California-Berkeley