institutions; and monitoring and supervising children in their daily activities to protect them from harm and to ensure that they behave according to the rules of society." Family structure affects the ability of families to fulfill these key functions and thus affects the well-being of children (Hernandez, 1993).

One aspect of family structure that is associated with how well families are able to do their jobs is whether the family has two parents. In examining the consequences of growing up in a single-parent family, McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) show that the benefits children receive from their families depend in part on whether one or both parents are present. When one parent is forced or voluntarily chooses to be a sole parent, children suffer.

Information from the census, the Current Population Surveys, and other data show clearly that one-parent families have considerably fewer economic resources than two-parent families. In 1993, approximately 35.6 percent of families headed by single mothers had incomes below the poverty line, as compared with 6.5 percent of families headed by two parents (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995). Not all of the difference in income is due to the consequences of divorce or a decision to bear a child out of wedlock. But our research and that of other social scientists has