Over the last six decades, the U.S. has experienced a major decline in the share of children living in two-parent families, a widening racial gap in the proportion of youth who live apart from a parent, and a persistent negative effect of parental absence on child outcomes. Combined, these trends have sparked a national debate about whether racial differences in family structure exacerbate existing inequalities in children’s life chances. However, there has been little research to explore and explain an important finding: living apart from a biological parent is less negatively consequential for children of color than their white peers. 

In this February 19, 2021 policy seminar, Christina Cross discussed how and why family structure matters differently for the academic success of racially and economically disadvantaged groups. She empirically tests hypotheses that have been put forward to account for racial differences in family structure effects and identifies factors that explain variation in outcomes. She also moves beyond a focus on cross-group differences to consider within-group heterogeneity in family structure effects among one minoritized group: African Americans. Lastly, she considers how we can expand the existing conceptual framework linking family structure and child outcomes to incorporate the significance of structural position, specifically racial and class membership.