For example, divorce or separation may be a reaction to financial hardship or unemployment (Lampard, 1994, Blekesaune, 2008), single parenthood may be a rational response to poor male economic opportunities (Blau et al., Those factors, examined below, are marriage and cohabitation, divorce and separation, and single parenthood. In the United States and more recently the United Kingdom there has been growing interest in whether policies that influence marriage rates could help to reduce poverty.