The Debate Over Family Structure and Life Success
 
Despite the strong correlation between family structure and life success, some still dispute the causal connection.  That’s especially true with regard to the African American community.  The latest example of this appeared in a recent New York Times op-ed titled “The Myth of the Two-Parent Home.”  In it, Harvard sociologist Christina Cross sought to minimize the importance of family structure when it comes to the success of “black kids.”  According to the Cross, “resources, more than family structure” are what really matter “for black kids’ success.”

To support this argument, Cross drew upon her own research on high school completion, which found that the impact of single motherhood was weaker for black students compared to white students on this outcome.  She argued that “living apart from a biological parent does not carry the same cost for black youths as for their white peers and being raised in a two-parent family is not equally beneficial.”
 
The article’s broader message is that for black children, the intact, married family is not very important; indeed, it is not even close to the importance of structural factors like racial segregation and poverty.

Yet one need only look at the literature to see that this article amounts to nothing more than particularly egregious “cherry-picking” designed to reach a predetermined conclusion.  For instance, it draws on only two studies to make an argument about family structure and black children.  Furthermore, Cross completely ignores a key finding from her own study which shows that the link between family structure and college enrollment was not lower for African Americans than for Whites.

A quick examination of this argument raises two questions:

1. What does the available research on family structure really tell us about family structure and race? And,

2. What are the policy implications of this research?

Bradford Wilcox and Ian Rowe of the American Enterprise Institute highlight three important points that jump out from the body of serious research on the subject:

First, for black children, as with all children, family structure matters.

Cross is right to note that for a few outcomes, a two-parent home seems to matter less for black children than for white children.  This is what she finds in her new study of family structure and completing high school on time; this echoes what some previous studies have found about the impact of family structure on black children’s educational attainment.  But these findings do not mean that it is a “myth” that a stable, two-parent family matters for black kids.  Even her own study indicates that black children who spent their entire childhood in a single-mother household are about 15 percentage points less likely to complete high school on time, compared to black children who grew up in a two-parent home.  This is not a small effect.

More importantly, Cross’ op-ed on the so-called “myth” of the two-parent home ignores a large and growing literature on race and family structure that suggests different conclusions than the ones she offers.  Take, for example, the work that MIT economist David Autor and his colleagues have done on education using a sample of thousands of schoolchildren across Florida.  In their recent study, they found that disadvantaged boys today are more likely to struggle behaviorally in school in terms of absences and suspensions than girls; in part, this is because boys are more likely to grow up in an unmarried home, which ends up having a disparately negative impact.  What’s more: they show that this story applies just as much to black boys as other boys. Autor summed up the work this way: “Boys particularly seem to benefit more from being in a married household or committed household - with the time, attention and income that brings.”

Second, racial inequality is rooted in structure and family life.

When it comes to explaining why black children are more likely to flounder in school, Cross points the finger, not at the family factor but at other, larger “structural barriers” like poverty and racial segregation, which she thinks matter more.  Her move is common in today’s discussions of racial inequality.

Cross and others who make this kind of argument about racial inequality are not entirely wrong, of course, but what they overlook are the ways in which many of the structural barriers they cite frequently have a family-related component.  To talk about the “myth of the two-parent home” when it comes to “black kids’ success” does a profound disservice in terms of reducing racial inequality in America.

Consider what the data is really telling us.

A new study by Penn State sociologist John Iceland on racial gaps in poverty and affluence reveals two big structural barriers facing black families and their children today.  In looking at trends over the last half-century, Iceland shows that structural factors like education do play a big role in accounting for persistent racial inequality in terms of poverty and affluence.  But the biggest factor in his models was still family structure.  In his words, “the effect of family structure grew in importance and became the most significant factor among blacks - not only for poverty but also for affluence, explaining about a third of the disparity in poverty and affluence in 2015” between blacks and whites.  It turns out, then, that the “resources” that are supposed to matter more in accounting for racial inequality among children than family structure per se are themselves often linked to the stability and structure of family life.  And,

Third, it takes a father-present village.

Indeed, one category of structural factors that looms large in discussions of racial inequality is “neighborhood effects” - referring to everything from racial segregation to concentrated poverty - which spills over into the lives of black children and their families.  But here again, it turns out that family structure is a big part of the neighborhood story and its impact on outcomes ranging from economic mobility to incarceration.

In fact, according to new research by Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his colleagues, one of the strongest predictors of a big racial gap in adult income between black and white men traces back to the absence of black fathers in the neighborhoods where they grew up.  In fact, black boys who grew up in neighborhoods with lots of black fathers, and especially lots of married couples, were likely to earn about as much money as white men when they grew up.

This study suggests that family structure matters not just for individual households but for whole neighborhoods.  “That is a pathbreaking finding,” said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard sociologist.  “They’re talking about the presence of fathers in a given census tract.  In other words, more black fathers in the village translate into less racial economic inequality for black men.”

What’s the bottom line?

To talk about the “myth of the two-parent home” when it comes to thinking about “black kids’ success” does a profound disservice in terms of confronting racial inequality in America.  While the family structure is certainly not the only factor implicated in this divide, it is a central factor when it comes to racial gaps in outcomes as varied as school suspensions, poverty, and affluence.

If we wish to close the racial gap in America, it is not enough to only pull the levers of public policy to address the structural barriers in the path of “black kids.”  We must also figure out new ways to increase the share of black children being raised in intact families and in neighborhoods with lots of father-present families.

Given this trend, we offer the following forecasts for your consideration.

First, academia and the mainstream media will continue to avoid addressing the implications of family structure.

The lack of intellectual rigor in the recent New York Times op-ed by Christina Cross reflects the strong and widespread bias in academia against traditional social constructs.  The prevailing a priori commitment in media and academia is to treating all family structures are equally valid.  Unless this changes, these institutions will continue to impede social progress.

Second, in the coming decade, economic incentives will be revised to encourage marriage and intact families.

Since the 1960s, entitlement programs from HHS and HUD have provided “anti-family” incentives to Americans in the bottom income quintile.  Beginning in 2021, the Trends editors anticipate the proactive dismantlement of the Great Society Programs.  Their replacements will encourage marriage, work, and personal responsibility.  And,

Third, other programs will harness the black community’s traditional religious values to the task of closing the income, wealth and health gaps.

As highlighted in the October 2019 issue, the African American community still has strong religious beliefs.  Those beliefs align well with traditional marriage and familial relationships.  With the appointment of a more conservative judiciary, expect barriers to Federal funding of faith-based pro-family programs to fall.  Coupled with revised economic incentives and better overall economic conditions, these programs will enable a “family renaissance” in the black community and a reduction in racial inequality.

References
1. December 12, 2019.  W. Bradford Wilcox & Ian Rowe.  Three facts about family structure and race: Responding to the New York Times. 

https://www.aei.org/op-eds/three-facts-about-family-structure-and-race-responding-to-the-new-york-times/

2. National Review. October 23, 2015.  BRADFORD WILCOX.   Family Structure Matters ? Science Proves It. 

https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/10/family-structure-matters-w-bradford-wilcox/

3. The New York Times. 9, 2019.  Christina Cross.  The Myth of the Two-Parent Home. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/opinion/two-parent-family.html

4. APPLIED ECONOMICS. JULY 2019.  David Autor, David Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik, Jeffrey Roth, & Melanie Wasserman.  Family Disadvantage and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes. 

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20170571

5. Population Research and Policy Review. 23 January 2019.  John Iceland.  Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Poverty and Affluence, 1959?2015. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11113-019-09512-7

6. org. December 2019.  Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Maggie R. Jones, and Sonya R. Porter.    Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: An Intergenerational Perspective. 

https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/race_paper.pdf

7. org. NOVEMBER 19, 2019.  Nicholas Zill & W. Bradford Wilcox.  The Black-White Divide in Suspensions: What Is the Role of Family?..

https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-black-white-divide-in-suspensions-what-is-the-role-of-family