In this paper, we use qualitative interview data from the Time, Love, and Cash Among Couples with Children (TLC3) study to investigate couple relationship quality among unmarried couples who have recently had a child together. We find that there are high levels of distrust on issues of fidelity. This sexual distrust leads to less secure […]
In January of 2003, the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the “”Family Connections in Alabama”” (FCA) project as a 12-month “”Special Improvement Project”” (SIP) to pilot marriage education for low-resource parents and to promote family and relationship strength. The Alabama Children’s […]
Many policymakers ask whether we can foster marital quality and stability, by encouraging people to commit to an orderly life and higher purpose. In political arenas, legislators are now asking whether “”a vow of marriage”” or a “”vow of Godliness”” can cultivatecommitment between partners and better child-rearing for parents. Academics refined theselarger philosophical and social […]
Phase II of the CYFAR Project, Beginning Education Early: Strengthening Rural Alabama Families (BEE), is being implemented in three Alabama counties through the Alabama Extension System county offices. The goals for Phase II of the BEE project are to increase parental capacity to (1) initiate contact and interact productively with community services related to children’s […]
Using data from the 2002 National Survey of America’s Families, the authors find that the majority of the gaps in poverty, low-income status, and food insecurity between children living in cohabiting and married couple families is accounted for by differences in characteristics such as parental education, age, and the number of hours worked. The benefits […]
A large body of research documents the earnings advantage that married men enjoy over never-married men, the “marriage premium.” Marital status is now a control variable in most earnings models, despite disagreements in the literature over whether the source of marital-status effects lies in productivity, selection, discrimination or other factors (Cornwell & Rupert 1997). Some […]
Much of the debate over welfare reauthorization centers on whether marriage promotion should play a key role. Few studies, however, have tracked the marriage and divorce histories of unwed mothers, including minority women, who are often the main targets of welfare reform. Data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth were used to estimate […]
Deploying government funds to encourage marriage has sparked heated debate. According to proponents, informing people of marriage’s long-term benefits, encouraging them to marry, and providing relationship tools will reduce poverty and family instability. According to critics, marriage promotion oversteps government’s bounds, could divert TANF funds to non-welfare programs, and detracts attention from a more pressing […]
Racial and Hispanic intermarriage produces new marriages and families that redefine the role and meaning of race and ethnicity in America. Intermarried couples, intermarried families, and multiracial and multiethnic children increasingly populate the American landscape. In some communities, especially in Hawaii and California, it would not be surprising if the average person were to conclude […]
This brief argues that welfare reform has not gone far enough to encourage two-parent families and responsible fatherhood. In fact, some of its own policies discourage this behavior. Furthermore, many poor families with young children are already struggling to stay together against the odds. Eventually, the majority of these families break up. By intervening early, […]