In this section, we compare descriptive information about custodial mothers and nonresident fathers and discuss the impact of reweighting on the characteristics of nonresident fathers. Custodial mothers are identified through responses to child support questions administered in wave 3 of the 1993 SIPP and are tabulated using the SIPP 1993 population weight. The original (population) weights characterize the 8 million nonresident fathers that can be identified in the SIPP, while the reweighted results are intended to reflect the characteristics of all the estimated 10.2 million nonresident fathers.
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In general, we find that the basic demographic characteristics of nonresident fathers who self-report in the 1993 SIPP are similar to those of custodial mothers in the survey. Their economic situations, however, are quite different. Reweighting the data on self-reporting nonresident fathers so that it is more representative of all nonresident fathers causes the demographic characteristics of nonresident fathers and custodial mothers to become even more similar. It also increases the poverty rate of nonresident fathers. Nonetheless, custodial mothers are still considerably poorer than (reweighted) nonresident fathers.
Table 6 shows that the age distribution of nonresident fathers and custodial mothers are quite similar once you account for the typical two year difference in the ages of mothers and the fathers of their children. For example, only 11 percent of custodial mothers are younger than 23, which is about the same percentage of nonresident fathers who are younger than 25. Furthermore, only 1 percent of custodial mothers are over 53 and only 1 percent of nonresident fathers are over 55. As table 6 shows, reweighting the nonresident fathers' data lowers their age distribution only slightly.
| Characteristics |
Custodial Mothers Population Weighted |
Nonresident Fathers Population Weighted |
Nonresident Fathers Reweighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample Size | 1,758 | 1,285 | 1,441* |
| Number (thousands) | 10,227 | 7,994 | 10,227 |
| Receives/Pays Child Support | 46% | 48% | 45% |
|
Age Distribution
15-22/17-24 23-32/25-34 33-42/35-44 43-52/45-54 53+/55+ |
(100%)
11% 39% 40% 9% 1% |
(100%)
10% 34% 43% 12% 1% |
(100%)
11% 35% 42% 11% 1% |
|
Race/Ethnic Composition
Black Hispanic White Other |
(100%)
26% 15% 56% 3% |
(100%)
20% 13% 65% 2% |
(100%)
27% 13% 58% 2% |
|
Educational Attainment
Less than high-school degree High School Degree/GED At Least Some College |
(100%)
26% 41% 33% |
(100%)
22% 45% 33% |
(100%)
25% 45% 30% |
|
Marital Status
First Marriage Remarried Previously Married Never Married |
(100%)
8% 18% 45% 29% |
(100%)
20% 26% 35% 19% |
(100%)
19% 23% 34% 24% |
|
Poverty Status
<100 % of Poverty 100-200% of Poverty 200% of Poverty + |
(100%)
37% 28% 35% |
(100%)
11% 21% 68% |
(100%)
20% 20% 60% |
| Median Family Income | $19,208 | $30,708 | $26,462 |
|
* Sample size includes records created to represent the
incarcerated.
Source: Authors' Analysis of the 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation. |
|||
The educational attainments of custodial mothers and nonresident fathers are also fairly similar. Among custodial mothers and nonresident fathers, about one quarter do not have a high school education and about one third have attended college. Reweighting the nonresident fathers reduces their educational attainment slightly in comparison to the original SIPP weights, making nonresident fathers' educational distribution even more similar to that of custodial mothers. The racial composition of custodial mothers and nonresident fathers using the original weights are somewhat different. In the reweighting process, we ensure that the percentage of black custodial mothers and black nonresident fathers are more comparable. In the end, our reweighted data indicate that 26 percent of custodial mothers are black and that 27 percent of nonresident fathers are black.
In contrast, the marital status of custodial mothers is quite different from that of nonresident fathers. This is not too surprising--custodial mothers are much less likely to be married than nonresident fathers. Table 6 shows that nearly half of custodial mothers (45 percent) are divorced or separated, but only about 34 percent of nonresident fathers are. Another 29 percent of custodial mothers have never been married, but only 24 percent of nonresident fathers have this marital status. Instead, slightly less than a quarter of nonresident fathers are in their second or higher marriage, compared to 18 percent of custodial mothers. Furthermore, almost a fifth of nonresident fathers are in their first marriage, but only 8 percent of custodial mothers are.
Finally, custodial mothers tend to have lower family income and are more likely to be poor than are nonresident fathers. The median family income for custodial mothers in 1993 was $19,208, compared to $26,462 for nonresident fathers. Over a third of custodial mothers are officially poor, compared to 20 percent of nonresident fathers. About 60 percent of nonresident fathers have family income above 200 percent of the poverty threshold for a family of their size, compared to only 35 percent of custodial mothers. Reweighting the nonresident fathers increases the proportion of poor fathers in the analysis relative to custodial mothers. This is to be expected, since the reweighted estimates include nonresident fathers who are incarcerated or are part of the undercount.(9)
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Less than half of custodial mothers (46 percent) in 1993 received child support, representing about 4.7 million custodial mothers. We estimate that 4.6 million nonresident fathers paid child support that year, representing about 45 percent of all nonresident fathers in the analysis. Our reweighting process increases the number of nonresident fathers paying child support to bring their numbers in closer alignment with that of custodial mothers reporting that they received child support. Custodial mothers reported that they received $15.4 billion in child support in 1993. After reweighting the nonresident father data, we estimate that nonresident fathers paid $17 billion in child support.
Among custodial mothers who received child support, the median amount reported received was $2,160 in 1993. This is considerably less than the estimated median amount paid by nonresident fathers, which was $2,880 that year. Reweighting the nonresident fathers lowers the median payment. Previous research has also found that custodial mothers tend to report receiving less than nonresident fathers report paying (Sonenstein and Calhoun 1988). One contributing factor to the disparity may be the rules of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in effect in 1993. Welfare recipients only received the first $50 per month in child support paid on their behalf. All remaining child support was withheld by the state to reimburse the government. Thus, some AFDC recipients may only have reported the amount they actually received, rather than the full amount paid on their behalf.
| Characteristics |
Custodial Mothers Population Weighted |
Nonresident Fathers Population Weighted |
Nonresident Fathers Reweighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receives/Pays Child Support | |||
| Number (thousands) | 4,725 | 3,871 | 4,639 |
| Percent | 46% | 48% | 45% |
| Amount Received/Paid | |||
| Total (billions) | $15.4 | $14.4 | $17.0 |
| Median (of those who receive/pay) | $2,160 | $3,000 | $2,880 |
| Receives/Pays Under an Order or Formal Agreement | |||
| Number (thousands) | 3,897 | 3,172 | 3,802 |
| Percent | 38% | 39% | 37% |
| Median | $2,400 | $3,120 | $3,056 |
| Receives/Pays Without an Order or Formal Agreement | |||
| Number (thousands) | 828 | 699 | 836 |
|
Percent
Median |
8%
$1,250 |
9%
$2,100 |
8%
$2,000 |
| Does Not Receive/Pay Child Support | |||
| Number (thousands) | 5,502 | 4,123 | 5,588 |
| Percent | 54% | 52% | 55% |
| Source: Authors' Analysis of the 1993 Survey of Income and Program Participation | |||
In 1993, 38 percent of custodial mothers reported that they received child support under a child support order or formal agreement that year. Among those who received child support under an order, the median amount received was $2,400. Another 8 percent of custodial mothers reported receiving financial support for their children from a nonresident father even though they did not have a child support order or formal agreement. The median amount received among these mothers was $1,250 in 1993. Fifty-four percent of custodial mothers reported that they received no financial support from their children's nonresident father in 1993.
Based on self-reports of payments, nonresident fathers report a nearly identical pattern of child support payments as that reported by custodial mothers. Reweighting the nonresident fathers brings the pattern of payments even closer in line.
An important point to bear in mind is that our estimates cover all nonresident fathers, regardless of whether they have a legal obligation to pay child support. According to the responses of custodial mothers, only about half of all nonresident fathers have a legal obligation to provide child support, and of those about 76 percent paid at least some child support in 1993. Based on these data, and the percentage of nonresident fathers providing child support without an order or formal agreement, we estimate that only about a fifth of nonresident fathers not paying child support have a legal obligation to do so. Unfortunately, the SIPP does not ask nonresident fathers who do not pay child support whether or not they have an order or formal agreement, so we cannot restrict our analysis to those with a legal obligation to pay. Thus, the results for nonpayers cannot be interpreted as results for fathers delinquent in their child support payments, rather they pertain to all nonresident fathers who do not pay child support.
9. In the descriptive sections of this paper, we use the term "incarcerated" and "institutionalized" interchangeably even though a small number of institutionalized people are not in prison because incarcerated is a more familiar term.
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Last updated: 02/20/01