single parent family as predictor

[weenie]

Hello everyone. I was looking for some data on correlations between the rate of crime and the medium expected incom on a person raised in a single parent family compared to that of a person raised in a family with both parents. Stefan mentions this factor as the most indicative predictor of a child's future well being, even more so than the income level of his family, but I haven't been able to find any statistical data supporting his claim. Any help will be appreciated.

[FiddlertheLeper]

did you check the sources he provides for the podcast he talked about this stuff in? he normally has a link to all his sources in the description on youtube, or the sidebar thing for podcasts.  If it's not there i would try emailing him through FDR, in my experience Stefan rarely talks about statistics he doesn't have sources for, i am sure either him or Mike will be able to send you links to where he got this information, which would at least be a starting point for your research. I will try and do some searches myself if i have the time, and if i find any reliable sources i'll post them here in the topic, good luck! 

[weenie]

I followed some of the links and found the articles that Stefan probalby based his conclusions on, but what I'm really interested in is some hard statistical evidence. I'm still going through all of the links in hope of finding some, but I tought that if anyone already did this, this would be the place to ask :)There's no gain in doing research that has already been done.

[Kevin Beal]

Here's an interesting article that references some primary sources and addresses the popular murder rate vs single motherhood graph that ostensibly disproves the claim that single motherhood is responsible for much of the violent crime out there:

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/12/the-real-complex-connection-between-single-parent-families-and-crime/265860/

 

That specific source you wanted is (I think) not available online, but rather in a PDF on the author's hard drive, haha. The author apparently doesn't get that you can't just link to a file on your hard drive and expect people to be able to download it. That's in the 4th paragraph down starting with "Some academics and advocates..."

[meeri]

This research summary refers to several studies that may give you the information you need

 

link:http://www.marriagedebate.com/pdf/imapp.crimefamstructure.pdf

 

Excerpt: 'Teens and adults raised in single-parent families are at increased risk of committing crimes. Teens in communities with many single parents appear to be at increased risk for crime or delinquency, regardless of their own family structure. Communities with higher rates of single-parent families face higher rates of crime.'

[Wesley]

You could always look at Stef's Bomb in the Brain series which tries to relate many social and health problem to Adverse Childhood Experiences via the ACE study. One of the indicators of adverse childhood experience was if prior to your 18th birthday you lose access to any of your biological parents for any reason including divorce, or abandonment. 

 

From there it makes sense that a single parent who is working full time and trying to raise kids on top of that is going to be spread thin and stressed out which leads to a higher chance of the other ACE's being present for the children whether it is poverty, verbal abuse, or worse.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/ace/about.htm

www.fdrurl.com/bib