Parental Cohabitation and Children's Economic Well-Being

The rise in children's experience in single-parent families is well documented. However, it remains unknown whether their unmarried parents are living alone or coresiding with unmarried partners. Perhaps more importantly, it is unknown how the economic contributions of parent's cohabiting partners influence the economic well-being of children. Using data from the recently released 1990 decennial census PUMS, we provide national estimates of the percentage and socioeconomic characteristics of U.S. children living in cohabitingcouple families. Our results reveal that 2.2 million children (3.5%) reside in cohabiting-couple families and that racial differences are substantial. Roughly I in 7 children in unmarried-parent families also live with their parent's unmarried partner. Although these children have two potential caretakers and economic providers, our results indicate that parental resources fall short of their counterparts in married-couple families. A cohabiting partner's economic contribution results in a 29% reduction in the proportion of children in cohabiting-couple families living in poverty, but still they fare poorly in comparison with children in married-couple families. Key Words: children's well-being, cohabitation, family structure, poverty. The transformation of the American family, fueled by continuing high rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing, is inextricably linked to the changing living arrangements and economic status of children (Bianchi, 1990; Duncan Eggebeen Hernandez, 1993). The rise in single-parent families has adversely affected the economic well-being of American children (Eggebeen Bumpass most researchers simply distinguish between children living in two-parent and singleparent families. It is generally accepted that more refined definitions of two-parent families that differentiate between two-biological parent families and stepparent families are important (e. …