The life course of children born to unmarried mothers: Childhood living arrangements and young adult outcomes

This study explores the complex sequences of living arrangements among children born to unmarried mothers and the impact of childhood living arrangements on the young adult life course. Retrospective life history data from the National Survey of Families and Households are used to construct each respondent's trajectory of household and family transitions from birth through age 15. The analysis documents the wide diversity of household types experienced by children born to unwed mothers. Only 1 in 5 spent their entire childhood in a single-parent family, and nearly half coresided with grandparents or relatives while growing up. Multivariate analyses show that living arrangement trajectories after birth to a single mother influenced the likelihood of high school completion and enrollment in postsecondary school, the timing of residential independence, and the timing of entry into the labor force.