Family Structure and Poverty: The Socioeconomic Impact on Child Development

Finding a mate in life has a different meaning for each sex. For men, the mission is easy: spread your seed. A man’s genetic disposition is to spread and diversify his genetic material, and to do that, a male must increase his chances of having sex. However, this creates an interesting situation for women. The female pattern for genetic survival is almost the exact opposite, focusing on monogamy. The female must find a mate who is best at allocating long-term resources. See Are Women Sex Objects? An Evolutionary Perspective for more!

One must realize what the illegality of abortion does to the future nurture outcomes for the child. The illegality of abortion forces a female to raise and nurture a child even if the male decides to no longer nurture or provide for the family. This brings a heavy burden upon the mother and a decreased quality of life for the child. I say this is a burden on the lower-class because even if abortion is illegal (which does not affect the woman's decision in the first place), if one has enough money, 'all doors are open,' and the upper-class mother can still afford better childcare. 

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Many do not understand just how expensive children can be and why sex education and abortion are so important to ending poverty. Costs of children rise with family income, although the percentage of income spent on children falls. Thus, low-income families spend less on their children, but these costs take a larger bite out of total income, and conversely for high-income families. Similarly, real expenditures on children are projected to be greater if economic growth is faster than anticipated, smaller if the current economic malaise is slower to subside. 

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I would like to emphasize the importance of the family structure and the significance it plays in human development. When single mothers are forced to keep children due to the lack of abortion opportunities and the social system making marriage for lower-class families difficult, it has a large effect on the children and the following generations. The following statement is provided by Richard Keith:

"Children raised in single parent families, when compared to those in intact families, are one-third more likely to exhibit behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, antisocial behavior, and anxiety. Children in single parent families are two to three times more likely to need psychiatric care than those in two parent families; they are also more likely to commit suicide as teenagers. Children in single parent families score lower on IQ, aptitude and achievement tests. With family income, neighborhood, parental education, and other variables held constant, young black men from single parent homes are twice as likely to commit crimes and end up in jail than are similar young men in low-income families where the father is present." 1

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George W. Liebmann, a Heritage Foundation Backgrounder, agrees and states the following: 

"Children from single-parent families are three times as likely to fail and repeat a year in grade school than are children from intact two-parent families. And they are almost four times more likely to be expelled or suspended from school… In addition, children from one-parent families have less ability to delay gratification and have poorer impulse control. They also have a weaker sense of conscience or sense of right and wrong." 2

1. Egendorf, Laura K. “Poverty.” Opposing Veiwpoints Series, Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1999. p.25

2. Egendorf, Laura K. “Poverty.” Opposing Veiwpoints Series, Greenhaven Press, Inc. 1999. p.68

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