Among this minority, a high proportion are one- and two-parent households headed by parents without a full-time job.

There are two tables, the first for two-parent households, the second for single-parent families.

"People who are in two-parent households have more money and more ability to deal with the ups and downs of life," he said.

They were best friends and lived in two-parent households.

Heads of two-parent households (mostly fathers) earned 15 percent more and took home 6 percent less in welfare funds.

It includes $945 million, for instance, in additional welfare payments to two-parent households, as an incentive to keep families together.

One Census Bureau figure that has changed little for a quarter-century is the number of two-parent households with children under 18.

And a black with a traditional two-parent household.

Some educators said it had its roots in the 1950's, when two-parent households embodied the ideal postwar American family.

Yet as Summitt looks back, she appreciates learning a strong work ethic and being raised in a solid, two-parent household.