[imtringued]

>Why the value judgement on single mothers? Also, the 73% is out of wedlock, not necessarily single mothers. Single mother numbers are actually 67%.

Because if you look at black communities with low single motherhood you also see less poverty, violence and incarceration rates at the same time. Even for white people single motherhood is often the biggest factor that decides whether you end up in poverty or not.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/426433/family-goes-so-...

[kaoD]

Could it be the other way around? Poverty leads to single motherhood.

[majewsky]

Explain. I can see an easy causality chain from single motherhood to low income to less education to poverty, but not in the opposite direction.

[jrock08]

Poverty in parents is highly predictive of poverty in children. Single motherhood is also correlated with poverty. It's possible that single motherhood increases the chance that a child will also live in poverty as an adult, but the vast majority of the effect is probably explained by generational poverty.