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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Economic status in later life among women who raised children outside of marriage | | Author(s) | Richard W Johnson, Melissa M Favreault |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 59B, no 6, November 2004 |
| Pages | pp S315-S323 |
| Source | http://www.geron.org |
| Keywords | Older women ; Single persons ; Mother ; Economic status [elderly] ; Poor elderly ; Social surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Many single mothers are likely to face economic challenges in old age, because they often have limited employment histories and cannot rely on husbands for financial support. This analysis uses nationally representative data from the US Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) to estimate multivariate models of income, assets and poverty rates for women aged 65-75 in 1999. Controlling for education, current marital status, and race and ethnicity, the model indicates that women who spent 10 or more years raising dependent children outside of marriage are 55% more likely to be living in poverty at ages 65-75 than women who were always married when their children were young. The financial difficulties confronting single mothers raising children persist into later life. Social Security reforms, especially those that are not tied to the current system of spousal and retirement benefits, could improve retirement security for those vulnerable women who raised children on their own in the 1970s. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-050217224 A |
| Classmark | BD: SQ: SRM: F:W: F:W6: 3F: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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