While the economic well-being of single-parent families headed by women is considerably higher if they receive child support, many eligible families have no child support award from the child's absent father, and many with an award do not receive full payment. This study redresses the shortcomings of earlier research on determinants and consequences of child support and extends that analysis by: analyzing trends over time in its award and receipt and their relation to changes in economic conditions and the legal environment; analyzing child support among the never-married; testing the effect of child support enforcement techniques on child support receipts; and examining the impact of family structure and child support payments upon children's education. The data set upon which these analyses will be based is a pooled time-series cross-section extracted from the 1979, 1982, 1984 and 1986 March/April Match Files of the Current Population Survey. Multiple regression techniques including ordinary least squares, logit, tobit, and simultaneous equations methods will be used for statistical estimation and hypothesis testing. The findings of this proposed research will be combined with earlier ones into a book on child support. A better understanding of the determinants, trends, and consequences of child support will help policy makers reform child support laws, improve their implementation, and may reduce poverty rates and the welfare rolls in a society which places increasing emphasis upon private support.
| Beller, A H; Graham, J W (1986) Child support awards: differentials and trends by race and marital status. Demography 23:231-45 |
