Most people believe that the main reason people get divorced is because of deterioration of the family structure. What most of these people do not realize is that the economy plays a major role in causing of divorced. In this paper, I will and explain how the economy has a great affect on family divorce rates, how it leads families into poverty, and how the economy also leads to a father leaving his family. I will also explain other factors that may lead to families being separated. Stephanie Coontz argues that "single parenthood and family dissolution, then, are not the primary cause of the deterioration in living standards among young families or the rise in poverty among children. In many cases, they are a result of that deterioration" (Coontz 28). Coontz is saying that single parent family does not mean that the family is in poverty. I also believe she is saying that poverty among children and the breakdown of the family structure is caused by bad living standards. Coontz in her essay is saying that there are other factors that contribute to impoverished family structure. .
One of the factors that may contribute to poverty is when the economy is low. When the economy is low it leads to unemployment and most people loose their jobs. With no jobs or having to settle for lower wages, does not help a mother and her family out of poverty. This then leads to the parents not having a job that pays them well enough to take care of their family. A research, which had been done by Mary Jo Bane in Zinn's article, supports what Coontz is trying to prove. Bane's research contradicts the common knowledge about how the change of the family structure causes most poverty. Zinn stated, "Bane's longitudinal research on household composition and poverty suggests that much poverty, especially among Blacks, is the result of already poor two-parent households that break up, producing poor female-headed households" (Zinn 151).