Family Structure
There have been tremendous changes in family structure and living arrangements
over the past 35 years. Between 1967 and 2003, for example, the fraction of
nonelderly individuals living in families headed by a single female doubled, from
approximately 6 percent to 12 percent. Since the poverty rate among those in
female-headed families is typically three or four times as high as in the overall
population, such changes in the distribution of family types can have potentially
large effects on poverty. Many authors have explored the extent to which demo