Family structure is a key factor in the economic mobility of children with the married family being most beneficial and divorce particularly harmful for children’s mobility, a new US study shows.

The new findings come in a paper by the Pew Economic Mobility Project.

Specifically, the study, Family Structure and the Economic Mobility of Children, found that, compared to other children who start in the bottom third in terms of income, only 26 per cent of children whose parents are divorced move up to the middle third or top third of the population as adults.

By comparison, 42 per cent of children born to unmarried mothers and 50 per cent of children with continuously married parents reached either the top third or the middle third of the population as adults.

The study also found that among children who start in the bottom third, 74 percent with divorced parents exceed their parents’ family income when they reach adulthood, compared to 90 percent of children with continuously married parents.

However, researchers also found that there was some racial disparity in economic mobility. According to the study, among African American children who start in the bottom third of the income distribution, 87 percent with continuously married parents exceed their parents’ income in adulthood, while just 53 percent of those with divorced parents do.

For white children who start in the bottom third, however, about the same proportion of adult children exceed their parents’ income regardless of whether their parents were continuously married (91 percent exceeding) or divorced (92 percent exceeding).

The study also found that 66 per cent of all African American children whose parents are in the bottom third of the income distribution remain in the bottom as adults, compared with 45 percent of all white children—a gap of 21 percentage points.

Among children of continuously married parents whose incomes are in the bottom third, 62 percent of African American children and 45 percent of white children remain in the bottom as adults—leaving a gap of 17 percentage points.

According to the study, family structure can explain a greater portion of the racial gap in downward mobility among children whose parents are in the middle third of the population in income terms.

The study showed that 56 per cent of all African American children whose parents are in the middle third fall to the bottom third as adults, compared to 30 per cent of all white children—a gap of 26 percentage points.

Among children with continuously married parents who start in the middle third, 42 percent of African American children and 30 percent of white children fall to the bottom—reducing the gap to 12 percentage points.

The study also found that 92 per cent of all white children whose parents are in the bottom third exceed their parents’ incomes in adulthood. By comparison, 82 percent of all African American children do, 10 per cent less than their white counterparts.

However, among children with continuously married parents who start in the bottom third, 87 percent of African American children and 91 percent of white children exceed their parent’s incomes in adulthood—reducing the gap to 4 percentage points.