According to some functionalist sociologists,rising rates of crime,illegal drug use,poverty,and welfare dependency can be traced to the fact that so many American children are not living in two-parent households with stay at home mothers.

Functionalists argue that the breakdown of the traditional family structure, with a working father and stay-at-home mother, has led to an increase in social problems such as crime, drug use, and poverty. They believe that children raised in single-parent or working-parent households lack the necessary parental guidance and supervision, leading to negative outcomes. However, this perspective has been challenged by other sociological theories that take into account factors such as economic inequality and institutional discrimination.