A comprehensive examination of the impact of single motherhood on the physical and mental health of women and their children in the USA. Based on scientific information, it predicts serious, long-term health consequences due to the poverty and social disorganisation in which many families live.

Ronald J. Angel is professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and the editor of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Jacqueline L. Angel is lecturer in sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Health and Living Arrangements of the Elderly.