| Sumario: | A study was conducted to examine the relationship between single-mother family structures and children's success. Data were gathered from the 1972-96 pooled General Social Surveys. The results indicated that children raised in divorced single-mother families had significantly lower levels of education, occupational status, and happiness in adulthood compared with children raised in widowed single-mother families. Nevertheless, divorced single mothers were not found to be significantly different to their widowed counterparts in terms of child-rearing, gender role, family values, religiosity, health-related behaviors, and other dimensions of lifestyle. However, divorced single mothers were found to hold lower occupational positions, be more financially stressed, and have a higher rate of participation in the paid labor force relative to widowed single mothers. The findings suggest that the contrasting positions in the social structure of differing types of single-mother families may explain for observed differences in child outcomes.
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