Equal Finances Put One- and Two-Parent Homes on Equal Footing
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iStock/Thinkstock(COLLEGE PARK, Md.) — No one doubts that a lot of single parents have a tougher job raising kids than when a household has two parents.
However, a new study by the Council on Contemporary Families says that quality of parenting has much less to do with whether there are one or two adults in the home than how well they’re doing financially.
Overall, Sandra Hofferth of the University of Maryland says the further away families are from the poverty line is a better predictor of parenting style.
For instance, kids whose parents are at least 200 percent above the poverty line are far more likely to engage in after-school sports than those in poverty. Although more children of two-parent homes take part in sports, the difference is negligible if single parents are also more financially secure.
Meanwhile, one- and two-parent households are also on equal footing when neither are financially disadvantaged when it comes to reading to their kids, limiting TV and even sharing meals five nights a week where single parents show a slight edge.
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