US leads the world in single-parent households...

... and the results are statistically disastrous.  

Summary of three pieces on Economist Melissa Kearney's Research

• Freakonomics Radio: When did marriage become a luxury good?
• Related: Why Did You Marry That Person? (Replay)
• Related: Why Does the Richest Country in the World Have So Many Poor Kids? (Update)
• Related: The Fracking Boom, a Baby Boom, and the Retreat From Marriage
• NYTimes: The Explosive Rise of Single-Parent Families Is Not a Good Thing
• Children from single-parent homes have more behavioral problems, are more likely to get in trouble in school or with the law, achieve lower levels of education and tend to earn lower incomes in adulthood. Boys from homes without dads present are particularly prone to getting in trouble in school or with the law.
• Income differences are not the only driver of differences in outcomes. A second committed adult in the home can contribute considerable time and energy to taking care of children.
• We can and should do more as a society to try to compensate for these gaps in parental investments. But again, it is highly unlikely that government or community programs could ever provide children from one-parent homes with a comparable amount of the supervision, nurturing, guidance or help that children from healthy two-parent homes receive.
• That means a generation of children will grow up more likely to get in trouble and less likely to reach their potential than if they had the benefits of two parents in their homes.
• NYTimes: The One Privilege Liberals Ignore
• Families headed by single mothers are five times as likely to live in poverty as married-couple families.
• Children in single-mother homes are less likely to graduate from high school or earn a college degree. They are more likely to become single parents themselves, perpetuating the cycle.
• Almost 30 percent of American children now live with a single parent or with no parent at all. One reason for the sensitivities is large racial disparities: Single parenting is less common in white and Asian households, but only 38 percent of Black children live with married parents.