Data reviewed by Haskey on the prevalence of lone-parent families by geographical area within the UK suggest that higher rates apply in urban than in rural areas, with an indicative contrast of 36.7 per cent in inner London, 19.2 per cent in outer London and 12.4 per cent in Surrey (Haskey 1994:13). The differences may be partly accounted for by the factor of class, though the picture in respect of this variable is both complicated and difficult to document. There may be a higher propensity for those from poorer families to enter into the category of unmarried parent (at least in the younger age ranges), but entering the status of lone parent—through divorce, separation or widowhoodmay also lead to a substantial decline in previous income. Ethnicity is another dimension of diversity. Substantially different patterns characterize black, Asian and white communities—partially but only imperfectly reflecting contrasting aggregate patterns as between the Caribbean, South Asia and Europe.
Recent analysis by Heath and Dale (1994) uses microdata from the 1991 census to detail such differences as they relate to women in the age range 16-35. Lone mothers living outside the parental home were much more common among black than among white women and strikingly rare among Asian women. In the age category 25-29 years, 28.4 per cent of black women were in separate, lone-parent households as against 9.8 per cent of white women and 2.1 per cent of Asian women. In the age band 30-35 almost a third (32.2 per cent) of black women were lone parents living in their own accommodation.
Marriage is a norm strongly adhered to within Asian communities, as is the confining of procreation to the marital union, although their hold on second-generation Asian women shows some signs of loosening. There are some Asian lone mothers living within the parental home, but they are very few: 0.5 per cent of Asian females in the age range 16-20 years and one per cent for the age range 3035. Rates of cohabitation, with or without children, are also low.
For black women in the UK, it is marriage that is relatively uncommon, at least among those aged between 16 and 35 years. While more black than Asian women cohabit, less than a third of black women aged 25 to 29 in 1991 were either married or cohabiting, though this combined figure increased to 43.9 per cent for the age category 30-35. There is also a very loose relationship of motherhood with either marriage or cohabitation among black women. Two-thirds of black mothers aged 16-19 years and 53 percent of those aged 26-27 years were in lone-parent households. Even in the age range 30-35, lone mothers in separate accommodation were more common than married mothers in conjugal households.
The pattern for young white women in the UK falls between those described by the experience of Asian and black women. However, there is a higher rate of cohabitation among white women than among either one of the other two groups: 16.9 per cent of white women aged 21-24 cohabited in 1991 as against 7.3 per cent of black women and 1.3 per cent of Asian women (Heath and Dale 1994).