Increasing Percentage of Children in Single-Parent Families; CT 21st in US
/Single-parent households are growing more common across the U.S., new research reveals. Connecticut ranks 21st in the percentage of children in single-parent families, although the number has steadily climbed in Connecticut as nationwide, according to data compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Nearly 25 million children— 35% of the country’s children — lived in single-parent families in 2014, the latest full-year data. That is an increase of 392,000 since 2010.
In Connecticut, the percentage has grown from 32 percent in 2010 to 34 percent in 2014, an increase of 3,000 children in single-parent families, but keeping the state below the national average. In 2000, the percentage in Connecticut was 27 percent, with 211,000 children in single-parent families, compared with 252,000 in 2014, according to the data.
Compared with children in married-couple families, those raised by one parent are more likely to drop out of school, have or cause a teen pregnancy and get divorced as an adult, according to research.
Forty-six states reported an uptick in the number of children raised in single parent households, with the largest jumps occurring in New Hampshire and Delaware.
Utah has the lowest incidence of kids being raised by one parent (19%) followed by Idaho (26%), Wyoming (27%), Minnesota (29%), Iowa (29%), North Dakota (29%) and Nebraska (29%). Louisiana (47%) and Mississippi (47%) top the list, with nearly half of all kids growing up in single-parent families. The other states with a high percentage of single-parent children are South Carolina (43%), Delaware (42%) and New Mexico (41%).
The report, released last month, also found that nationwide 26 per
cent of children live in mother-only households and 8 percent live in father-only households. Those numbers are virtually unchanged since 2010. Back in 2000, however, 69 percent of children lived in married-couple households, 25 percent in mother-only homes and 6 percent in father-only households.
In Connecticut, the percentage of children living in married-couple households has fallen from 74 percent in 2000 to 67 percent in 2014. The percentage of children living in mother-only households has increased from 21 percent to 26 percent, while the number of children in father –only households has grown by 16,000 between 2000 and 2014, from 5 percent of children to 7 percent of children.
