According to the most recent research, which was carried out by Chang Ching-fu, an associate professor of sociology at National Chung Hsing University, in 1993 57.7 % of all single-parent families were caused by divorce, about one-third of them were the result of a spouse's death, and the rest were due to other reasons, such as childbirth outside of wedlock and abandonment.
根據中興大學社會系副教授張清富一九九三年的最新研究，台灣地區單親家庭的組成中，離婚高達百分之五十七．七；喪偶居次，約佔三分之一；其他是未婚生子、遺棄… … 等等因素。