Table 2.
Definitions of Family Structures by Parents’ Marital Status (Unmarried, Married, Divorced/Separated/Widowed) Throughout Offspring’s Childhood at Ages 0–18
| Types of family structure |
Parents’ marital status when a child is at |
Percent in G2 | Percent in G3 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | Age 1–18 | All | African Americans |
Whites | All | African Americans |
Whites | ||
| (1a) | One-parent, unmarried | Unmarried | Unmarried | 2.7 | 5.4 | 0.4 | 11.7 | 22.9 | 1.7 |
| (1b) | One-parent, unmarried | Unmarried | Married | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 5.5 | 8.9 | 2.5 |
| (1c) | One-parent, unmarried | Unmarried | Divorced/separated/widowed/remarried | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 6.8 | 11.4 | 2.7 |
| (2) | One-parent, divorced | Married | Divorced/separated/widowed/remarried | 18.8 | 22.7 | 15.4 | 25.4 | 22.7 | 27.8 |
| (3) | Two-parent, intact | Married | Married | 76.1 | 68.8 | 82.6 | 50.6 | 34.1 | 65.4 |
| Total (Observations) | 100 (5,357) | 100 (2,525) | 100 (2,832) | 100 (5,357) | 100 (2,525) | 100 (2,832) | |||
Data sources: Multigenerational linked data from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), 1968–2013.
Notes: G2 and G3 refers to parents in generation 2 and grandchildren in generation 3 in the multigenerational sample, respectively. The sample is restricted to grandchildren in G3 who are aged between 25 and 65. As the subsample of other racial and ethnic groups, such as Native Americans and Asians, are underrepresented in the PSID data (< 3 percent), they are combined with whites into a single group.