-------------------------------------------------------------- These excerpts from David Popenoe's book were posted to a family law discussion list by Jan Cohen. Source: _ Life without Father _, by David Popenoe. 1996. ISBN0-684-82297-0. Page 56: "There has now been extensive research looking into the social and behavioral disadvantages to a child of growing up in a single-parent family. The latest and most authoritative review of this research is set forth by the prominent social scientists Sara McLanahan of Princeton University and Gary Sandefur of Wisconsin in their new book _Growing Up with a Single Parent_. The main source of their evidence is five nationally representative, large-scale social surveys. McLanahan and Sandefur conclude that children who grow up with only one of their biological parents (nearly always the mother), compared to children who grow up with both parents, are three more times likely to have a child out of wedlock, 2.5 times more likely to become teen mothers, twice as likely to drop out of high school, and 1.4 times more likely to be idle (out of school and out of work). These are risk differentials of very substantial magnitude. The conclusions were reached, it is important to add, after adjusting for such income-related variables as race, sex, mother's education, father's education, number of siblings, and place of residence. In other words, the lower economic level of the children from single-parent families cannot account for their differential risks."

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