Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy. A Discussion Paper from the Council on Contemporary Families (original) (raw)
Related papers
Marriage Promotion and Low-Income Communities
Washington, DC: Institute for Women's Policy …, 2002
Much of the discussion surrounding marriage promotion policies have little basis in the reality of life in low-income communities. Research suggests that much of the income differential between low-income and middle class women is the result of differences in educational attainment, labor market experience, and access to labor supply rather than to marital status. Many low-income mothers indicate that marriage can actually reduce their well-being if their potential spouse cannot add to the economic viability of the household. The following policies would significantly improve the: economic well-being of single-parent families: (1) eliminate the cap on the number of families that could receive education and training activities counted as work; (2) remove the 12-month time limit on vocational training; (3) give states the flexibility to provide assistance to those participating in education and training programs; (4) increase the earned income tax credit and earned income disregards; and (5) provide full funding for child care subsidies. Several studies have questioned the role of marriage in the different outcomes and life chances of children. The literature emphasizes the importance of providing adequate job opportunities for single mothers so that their economic stability and, ultimately, the well-being of their children can be improved. (Contains 24 references.) (MN)
Marriage Promotion Policy and Family Inequality
Sociology Compass, 2012
In 1996, Congress overhauled welfare policy to promote marriage and work as ways to lift American families out of poverty. Almost all of the funding for governmental marriage promotion has been devoted to relationship skills programs intended to help couples strengthen their relationships, encourage them to marry, and thereby prevent poverty. Marriage promotion policy has sparked intense debate, especially over the connection between marriage and family inequality. While advocates of the policy argue the government should promote marriage because it fosters social and economic well-being, critics challenge the assumption that marriage itself causes these benefits or will help lift poor families out of poverty. Recent sociological research on why poor and low-income couples marry less finds that they tend not to marry if they cannot meet a specific economic threshold. This suggests that rather than promoting the view that relationship skills en route to marriage can help prevent poverty, marriage promotion policy could likely better serve disadvantaged families by acknowledging and addressing the socioeconomic roots of family inequality.
Increasing marriage would dramatically reduce child poverty
Handbook of families and poverty, 2008
This report uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (a nationwide survey that collects data on married and nonmarried parents at the time of the child's birth) to determine how much marriage could reduce poverty among couples who are not married at the time of birth. To determine the impact of marriage on children's and mothers' poverty, the study estimated what the mothers' poverty rate would be if they remained single, calculated what the poverty rate would be if the mothers and fathers married, then noted differences between poverty rates. The effect of marriage on poverty was calculated according to three scenarios regarding the mother's employment after childbirth (zero annual employment, part-time employment, and full-time employment). Data analysis indicates that marriage would dramatically reduce poverty among non-married mothers who are romantically involved with the fathers at the time of the child's birth. Specifically, if these mothers do not marry but remain single, about 55 percent will be poor. By contrast, if all mothers married their child's father, the poverty rate would fall to less than 17 percent. Thus, on average, marriage would reduce the odds that a mother and a child will live in poverty by more than 70 percent. A technical appendix describes how researchers used the Fragile Families survey and database to simulate the effects of marriage on child poverty. (Contains 15 footnotes.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
2002
Much of the discussion surrounding marriage promotion policies have little basis in the reality of life in low-income communities. Research suggests that much of the income differential between low-income and middle class women is the result of differences in educational attainment, labor market experience, and access to labor supply rather than to marital status. Many low-income mothers indicate that marriage can actually reduce their well-being if their potential spouse cannot add to the economic viability of the household. The following policies would significantly improve the: economic well-being of single-parent families: (1) eliminate the cap on the number of families that could receive education and training activities counted as work; (2) remove the 12-month time limit on vocational training; (3) give states the flexibility to provide assistance to those participating in education and training programs; (4) increase the earned income tax credit and earned income disregards; and (5) provide full funding for child care subsidies. Several studies have questioned the role of marriage in the different outcomes and life chances of children. The literature emphasizes the importance of providing adequate job opportunities for single mothers so that their economic stability and, ultimately, the well-being of their children can be improved. (Contains 24 references.) (MN)
Marriage Promotion and Low-Income Communities: An Examination of Real Needs and Real Solutions
2002
Much of the discussion surrounding marriage promotion policies have little basis in the reality of life in low-income communities. Research suggests that much of the income differential between low-income and middle class women is the result of differences in educational attainment, labor market experience, and access to labor supply rather than to marital status. Many low-income mothers indicate that marriage can actually reduce their well-being if their potential spouse cannot add to the economic viability of the household. The following policies would significantly improve the: economic well-being of single-parent families: (1) eliminate the cap on the number of families that could receive education and training activities counted as work; (2) remove the 12-month time limit on vocational training; (3) give states the flexibility to provide assistance to those participating in education and training programs; (4) increase the earned income tax credit and earned income disregards; and (5) provide full funding for child care subsidies. Several studies have questioned the role of marriage in the different outcomes and life chances of children. The literature emphasizes the importance of providing adequate job opportunities for single mothers so that their economic stability and, ultimately, the well-being of their children can be improved. (Contains 24 references.) (MN)
Marriage Not Enough to Guarantee Economic Security
2000
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Michelle Chauprovided,research,assistance for this brief. Work for this report was generously,funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Copyright © 2005 by the National Center for Children in Poverty The National Center for Children in Poverty identifies and promotes, strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve,the lives of low-income children and families. . National Center
For richer or for poorer: Marriage as an antipoverty strategy
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2002
This study examines the effects of changes in family structure on children's economic well-being. An initial shift-share analysis indicates that, had the proportion of children living in female-headed families remained constant since 1970, the 1998 child poverty rate would have been 4.4 percentage points lower than its actual 1998 level of 18.3 percent. We then use the March 1999 Current Population Survey to conduct a second analysis in which marriages are simulated between single mothers and demographicallysimilar unrelated males. The microsimulation analysis addresses some of the shortcomings of the shift-share approach by allowing us to account for the possibility of a shortage of marriageable men, to control for unobservable differences between married men and women and their unmarried counterparts, and to measure directly the effects of increases in marriage on the economic well-being of children. Results from the microsimulation analysis suggest that, had the proportion of children living in femaleheaded families remained constant since 1970, the child poverty rate would have been 3.5 percentage points lower than its actual 1998 level. Among children whose mothers participated in a simulated marriage, the poverty rate would have fallen by almost twothirds.
Decreasing Nonmarital Births and Strengthening Marriage to Reduce Poverty
The Future of Children, 2007
Since the 1970s, the share of U.S. children growing up in single-parent families has doubled, a trend that has disproportionately affected disadvantaged families. Paul Amato and Rebecca Maynard argue that reversing that trend would reduce poverty in the short term and, perhaps more important, improve children's growth and development over the long term, thus reducing the likelihood that they would be poor when they grew up. The authors propose school and community programs to help prevent nonmarital births. They also propose to lower divorce rates by offering more educational programs to couples before and during marriage. Amato and Maynard recommend that all school systems offer health and sex education whose primary message is that parenthood is highly problematic for unmarried youth. They also recommend educating young people about methods to prevent unintended pregnancies. Ideally, the federal government would provide tested curriculum models that emphasize both abstinence and use of contraception. All youth should understand that unintended pregnancies are preventable and have enormous costs for the mother, the father, the child, and society. Strengthening marriage, argue the authors, is also potentially an effective strategy for fighting poverty. Researchers consistently find that premarital education improves marital quality and lowers the risk of divorce. About 40 percent of couples about to marry now participate in premarital education. Amato and Maynard recommend doubling that figure to 80 percent and making similar programs available for married couples. Increasing the number of couples receiving services could mean roughly 72,000 fewer divorces each year, or around 65,000 fewer children entering a single-parent family every year because of marital dissolution. After seven or eight years, half a million fewer children would have entered single-parent families through divorce. Efforts to decrease the share of children in single-parent households, say the authors, would almost certainly be cost effective in the long run and could reduce child poverty by 20 to 29 percent.
Reducing unwed childbearing: the missing link in efforts to promote marriage
2006
Most social scientists acknowledge that, on balance, single parents, stepparents, or cohabiting couples are no substitute for childrearing by two married parents. Yet, new data from the federal government show that a record number of babies-nearly 1.5 million-were born to unmarried women in the United States in 2004. Empirical evidence of this sort has leveraged political support for the Bush administration's "Healthy Marriage Initiative." Congress recently approved major funding for this initiative as part of welfare reform reauthorization. Approximately 100millionperyearwillbeavailableforresearch,demonstration,andtechnicalassistanceprojectstopromotehealthymarriagethroughsuchactivitiesaspublicadvertisingcampaigns,relationshipandmarriageeducationinhighschools,andrelationshipandmarriageskillsforbothunmarriedandmarriedcouples.Inaddition,about100 million per year will be available for research, demonstration, and technical assistance projects to promote healthy marriage through such activities as public advertising campaigns, relationship and marriage education in high schools, and relationship and marriage skills for both unmarried and married couples. In addition, about 100millionperyearwillbeavailableforresearch,demonstration,andtechnicalassistanceprojectstopromotehealthymarriagethroughsuchactivitiesaspublicadvertisingcampaigns,relationshipandmarriageeducationinhighschools,andrelationshipandmarriageskillsforbothunmarriedandmarriedcouples.Inaddition,about50 million per year will be available to promote responsible fatherhood. Preliminary evaluations of marriage education programs have revealed some positive results for middle-class parents, but there is not yet scientific evidence on how these programs will work for more disadvantaged couples. Indeed, marriage promotion among the poor remains a contentious issue. Not only is the effectiveness of such strategies unproven, but some critics view these strategies as poorly designed for dealing with high rates of incarceration, unemployment, substance abuse, and domestic violence among low-income men and with high rates of early unwed childbearing among low-income women. This brief argues that for marriages to succeed among low-income families, it is also essential to address these underlying problems-most specifically, the problem of unwed childbearing.