I was going to do a post about the ethnic breakdown, but it came across as .. racist? Maybe. So, being a sneaky, evil Republican, I tried to lay the blame on the broken welfare system of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Since the rate of unwed births remained consistently low for minorities much of the century until the late 60's, early 70's .. then it began to jump.
My theory was that people abusing the system (the so called welfare queen) were making it socially acceptable (and sometimes optimal) to be a single parent in our society. Then their children would grow up and repeat the process (babies having babies). But the stats don't really bear that out as the reality.
Anyways, the ethnic breakdown is like this:
Black: 70% (it has increased slightly over the decade)
Hispanic: 51% (this has jumped up tremendously in the past 20 years. It once was below 30%)
White: 25-27% (Its fluctuated, but has remained pretty steady)
Obviously, the majority of "unwed mothers" are white. But it's troublesome to see such high rates among the minorities. Especially among Hispanics who seem likely to reach that 70 percent plateau in another 10-15 years.
So, has there been big social study into the negative effects of being born a child of an unwed mother? I really couldn't find anything on google that was really damning. Like the child was more likely to be illiterate, a criminal, etc etc.
Just from personal experience (my wife being a teacher), the grandmother usually steps in and assumes the role of the second parent. Oftentimes, doing a better job than some of the fathers would (had they been there).
