Is the Two-Parent Family the Great Equalizer?

by Courtney Hayes 
 

For over half a century, many researchers, religious leaders, and policymakers have championed marriage and the two-parent family as a "great equalizer,” a panacea for a range of social issues, including racial inequality. And despite the shifting landscape of American societal norms, the idealization of the nuclear family remains deeply ingrained in the American psyche. But where do these ideas come from? And what if they were wrong?

Christina Cross, assistant professor of sociology at Harvard University and an IQSS affiliate, challenges these entrenched beliefs in her forthcoming book, tentatively titled, "Blood Lies: Why the Two-Parent Family is No Cure-All for Racial Inequality." 

In a recent interview with IQSS, Cross explains, “The two-parent family has not always been the most popular family structure.” The post-World War II economic boom triggered a departure from extended family living arrangements, “and suddenly there wasn't the same need to depend on one's extended relatives to be economically sufficient.”

But not everyone was reaping the benefits of the expanding American pie, and policymakers began grappling with a disturbing statistic: about half of all Black families were living below the poverty line. 

Alarmed by this deepening economic disparity, President Johnson commissioned a study to get to the root of the problem. The report, authored by then Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, pointed to the high rate of single motherhood as the fundamental cause of Black plight. And without two parents and adherence to patriarchal norms, the report argued, Black children were doomed to “flounder and fail.” 

The publication of the Moynihan Report in 1965 marked a watershed moment in the discourse on Black families and poverty in America. By attributing the economic and social struggles of African Americans to family deterioration and single motherhood, the report solidified a racially toxic narrative that persists to this day.

Over the years, numerous policies have been enacted to promote marriage and the two-parent family structure, with hundreds of millions in tax dollars spent on programs such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Healthy Marriage Initiative. “There are currently over one thousand US laws, policies, and practices that are designed to promote or protect the two-parent family structure. And there's clear evidence to suggest that many of our political leaders believe that the two-parent family is integral to promoting equality,” explains Cross. 

The 1980s marked the beginning of a critical reevaluation of the two-parent family as the unequivocal standard for successful child-rearing. This period of scholarly inquiry laid the groundwork for Cross's research, which examines the impact of family structure across racial lines. “For so long, there had been this assumption that the benefits of two-parent families were universal. So researchers didn't disaggregate by race to see if the impact was different across racial-ethnic groups,” explains Cross. 

The Moynihan Report and subsequent studies looked at the role of single motherhood as a driver of inequality between groups. But Cross wanted to examine the flip side of those assumptions. “We spent so much time researching Black single mothers. But what is the experience like for Black children who grow up with both parents?” Do they enjoy the same benefits as their white peers?” Cross wanted to determine if the two-parent family structure is the cause of those benefits. Or were those white families already doing better in the first place?

"Blood Lies," the culmination of Cross's rigorous analysis of data from four nationally representative surveys, tracks thousands of African American and white children from birth to young adulthood. The book examines the assumption that the two-parent family model offers equal benefits to all children. Cross's findings challenge this notion, showing that African American children raised in two-parent families do not enjoy the same advantages as their white counterparts, thus debunking the myth that family structure can bridge the racial inequality gap.

"Blood Lies" distinguishes itself through its methodological rigor, longitudinal analysis, and interrogation of deeply held societal beliefs. By following a cohort of children over 25 years, Cross offers a comprehensive view of the complex interplay between family structure, race, socioeconomic status, and child outcomes. “Unfortunately, in my study, the average Black child who lived in a two-parent family experienced similar outcomes as a white child who lived in a single-parent family, which really speaks to the fact that the benefits of this ‘ideal family structure’ are not universal,” says Cross.

The project was a monumental undertaking requiring significant funding. And as Cross explains, “the support provided by IQSS was instrumental.” From facilitating workshops with external experts to enhancing data visualization and analysis, IQSS played a pivotal role in refining Cross's findings. “IQSS freed up funds that allowed me to take care of other important aspects of the book, including having support for a graduate student to help me analyze massive data sets.”

Cross’s work not only contributes to the academic discourse but also has profound implications for public policy and our understanding of family and inequality. “Structural racism is still alive and well, and even when Black couples get married, they have dramatically less wealth—roughly 25 percent of that of white parents—and so they're not able to pass on the same resources to their children,” says Cross. 

While family structure has the potential to magnify inequality or reduce it on the margins, Cross shows that access to resources—not family structure—is the largest predictor of how well people do. As a result, Black children from low-income, two-parent families find themselves in the same position as Black children growing up with a single parent.

If the two-parent family isn't the great equalizer that many policymakers imagine it to be, what should we be doing to reduce inequality?

“One of the things that I found in my book is that if we make economic resources between Black and white two-parent families equal, if we eliminate disparities in income, the gaps in children's outcomes are reduced by about half,” explains Cross. 

By challenging narratives that idealize the two-parent family, Cross's work invites a reevaluation of how support is provided to families of all configurations. “Rather than spending hundreds of millions each year counseling people to get and stay married, we could give them money to pay their bills. We could give them that money to buy food for their children or subsidize childcare,” argues Cross. 

Changing entrenched cultural narratives is a daunting undertaking. But "Blood Lies" has the potential to spark a broader conversation about the diverse realities of American families and is a testament to the power of social science research in challenging long-held beliefs and advocating for change.