Single parent
In the United States, 83% of single parents are mothers. Among this percentage of single mothers: 45% of single mothers are currently divorced or separated, 1.7% are widowed, 34% of single mothers never have been married. Although decades ago, having a child outside of marriage and/or being a single mother was not prominent. Census information from 1960 tells us that in that year, only nine percent of children lived in single parent families. Today four out of every ten children are born to an unwed mother.
African-American family structure
Melvin Wilson states that the single mother role in the African-American family is played by 94% of African-American single parents. According to Brown, single parent motherhood in the African-American culture is becoming more a "proactive" choice. Melvin Wilson's research shows 62% of single African-American women said this choice is in response to divorce, adoption, or just non marriage compared to 33% of single white women. In this position African-American single mothers see themselves playing the role of the mother and the father. Though the role of a single mother is similar to the role of a married mother, to take care of household responsibilities and work a full-time job, the single mothers' responsibility is greater since she does not have a second party income that a partner would provide for her family members. According to Brown, this lack of a second party income has resulted in the majority of African American children raised in single mother households having a poor upbringing.