Poverty over the family life cycle

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to investigate vulnerability to poverty over the family life cycle. An examination of 1981–83 interview years reveals that family life cycle stage is a significant predictor of poverty status. Two-parent families are more vulnerable to poverty in the childbearing stage, and also when they are launching children. Female-headed families are more vulnerable to poverty when younger children are present in the household. Reasons for these different vulnerabilities to poverty are given, and the implications of these findings are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1987 meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society. I would like to thank Joan Aldous, David Klein and Rodney Ganey for their reviews of this paper.Robert C. Tuttle is an assistant professor, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and includes the economic situations of families, and family policy among his research interests.