High School Completion for Young Women

This article examines the effects of living in a single-parent family on the high school completion of young women after controlling for the effects of family income. For white women, living with a single parent has no effect on high school completion once the generally lower income of single-parent families is taken into account. For black women, both low income and living with a single parent independently contribute to increased rates of dropping out of school. In considering policies to increase the rate of high school completion, the economic aspect of the problem deserves major attention.