[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.