Sara McLanahan, Who Studied Single Motherhood, Dies at 81

Dr. Garfinkel mentioned the outcomes of the Fragile Households examine “present no help for the culture of poverty thesis,” which posits that completely different values and behaviors among the many poor lure them in self-perpetuating cycles of privation. Quite, he mentioned, “circumstances and alternatives,” not worth variations, have the best influence.

Although her findings rankled some advocates for single moms, Dr. McLanahan continued to publish books and papers on the subject.

“We reject the argument that folks shouldn’t discuss concerning the damaging penalties of single motherhood for worry of stigmatizing single moms and their youngsters,” Dr. McLanahan and the researcher Gary Sandefur wrote of their 1994 ebook, “Growing Up With a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps.” “Whereas we respect the compassion that lies behind this place, we disagree with the underside line. Certainly, we imagine that not speaking about these issues does extra hurt than good.”

Sara Frances Smith was born on Dec. 27, 1940, in Tyler, Texas. Her father, Norman Smith, was a common supervisor for a neighborhood oil firm. Her mom, Iredell (Brown) Smith, was a homemaker.

She attended Robert E. Lee Excessive College in Tyler, now often called Tyler Legacy Excessive College. A gifted pianist, she studied on the Aspen Music Competition in Colorado for a summer season. She attended Bennett Junior Faculty in Irvington, N.Y., and went on to Smith Faculty. After a yr at Smith, she dropped out in 1962 and married Ellery McLanahan. That they had three youngsters, Sara, Ellery and Anna Bell, all of whom survive her. The household moved to Houston, and the couple divorced in 1972.

Dr. McLanahan returned to highschool and graduated from the College of Houston with a bachelor’s diploma in sociology in 1974. She obtained her masters and doctoral levels in sociology from the College of Texas at Austin.

She started her postdoctoral fellowship on the College of Wisconsin in 1979. It was there that she met Dr. Garfinkel and targeted her analysis on single motherhood. (She had averted the subject in her doctoral thesis on the College of Texas as a result of, she mentioned, it felt too near dwelling.) She and Dr. Garfinkel married in 1982.