Economic Restructuring and Family Structure Change 1980 to 2000: A Focus on Female-Headed Families with Children

Diane K. McLaughlin, Pennsylvania State University
Alisha J. Coleman, Pennsylvania State University

Economic restructuring has altered men’s and women’s roles in the economy, affecting the prevalence of female-headed households across counties in the US. This study examines the relationship between economic restructuring and the change in prevalence of female-headed households with children from 1980 to 2000. Summary File (1980, 1990 and 2000) data from the US Census of Population and Housing are used to determine the prevalence and spatial distribution of female-headed households with children, change across the decades, and whether the association of economic restructuring and growth in female-headship changed from 1980 to 1990 to the more economically prosperous 1990 to 2000 period. These questions are answered using descriptive statistics and fixed effects models of change in female-headed households from 1980 to 2000. The county-level analysis provides social-structural evidence of the influence of local economic restructuring on change in family structure.