A simple model of fatherhood and marriage choice implies that stricter child support enforcement will tend to reduce nonmarital childbearing by raising the costs of fatherhood. We investigate this hypothesis by examining nonmarital childbearing during 1980-1993, a period when child support policy and enforcement underwent enormous changes. We use a sample of women from the […]

In this paper we use qualitative interviews, embedded within a large, nationally representative survey, to examine what new unmarried parents say about their plans and expectations for marriage and to determine why they do not marry. The qualitative data shed light on an apparent contradiction that arises from the quantitative analysis. According to the latter, […]

In Gordon Berlin’s report to Congress he addresses the committee about what is known and not known about the effects of marriage and divorce on families and children and about what policies and programs might work to promote and strengthen healthy marriages, especially among the poor. His goal is to briefly summarize the evidence in […]

What explains the gap between what unmarried parents say about marriage and what they do? One explanation for low marriage rates in this population is the lack of marriageable males – men who are financially stable and non-incarcerated. Another explanation is that a large number of women haveentered the workforce, making them less dependent on […]

This paper uses meta-analytic techniques to provide a systematic appraisal of how welfare reform policies in six studies representing 14 welfare programs have affected marriage and cohabitation among single-parent families overall and for a variety of subpopulations. In each of the studies examined, single parents were randomly assigned to a program that included some combination […]

The following research findings on cohabitation outcomes are discussed: cohabiting couples without plans to marry tend to report poorer relationship quality than married couples; cohabiting couples are more likely to separate and less likely to reconcile after a separation than married couples; cohabiting couples are more likely to experience infidelity than married couples; compared to […]

In this brief, we contrast making cash and related forms of public assistance more generous with strategies that encourage work and marriage. The data suggest that the latter are more effective ways of reducing poverty and demonstrate the wisdom of the increasing attention that has been given to encouraging work and marriage in recent policy […]

The goal of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was to end needy parents’ dependence on governmental benefits, in part by promoting marriage. The prereform welfare system was widely believed to discourage marriage because it provided benefits primarily to single mothers. However, welfare reform may have actually decreased the incentives to be […]

Welfare reform has been a huge success, if measured by reductions in caseloads. Since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was passed in 1996, welfare caseloads have plummeted, and are lower today than at anytime since 1969. Such diverse states as Wisconsin, Idaho, and Mississippi have experienced reductions of 80 percent or […]

Presentation prepared for the Ohio State University Family Life E-Seminar on Relationship and Marital Enrichment Education (April 2006). The goals of this module are threefold: to explain the impact of couple functioning on individual, family and community well being; articulate the rationale for addressing couple relationships in family life education; and describe appropriate goals and […]