December 4, 2006

Can Marriage Stem African American Poverty?

Study: Marriage benefits blacks economically

by Tamara E. Holmes

Marriage appears to contribute greatly to the economic status of African American families, according to a new study, The Consequences of Marriage for African Americans, but some black advocates disagree on whether marriage programs are effective methods of curbing poverty.

The study, commissioned by the Institute for American Values, a private nonprofit think tank that studies families, examines the consequences of marriage among African Americans in the last few decades. A recent panel discussion titled, "Marriage and the African-American Community" at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., reviewed the study's findings.

"On virtually every indicator of economic well-being, married African Americans do better," says Linda Malone-Colon, one of the authors of the study and an assistant professor of psychology at Hampton University. "They earn more, they are less likely to suffer economic hardship and poverty, they have higher levels of occupational prestige, and they're more likely to own their own homes."

The findings add fuel to the debate on whether marriage incentives offered to low-income Americans are an effective way to fight poverty. In 2002, President Bush introduced the Healthy Marriage Initiative, funding programs designed to give married low-income Americans economic and emotional support.

The Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development in Baltimore offers a program designed to educate unmarried couples with children to move toward marriage.

"We introduce skills to them to help them to learn how to negotiate that relationship so the relationship doesn't disintegrate and the children don't fall into poverty in a lot of cases," says Joseph T. Jones Jr., founder and president of the organization.

The program and the marriages it has helped produce have benefited young fathers served by his organization so much that Jones says he wants to see research examining the intersection of healthy marriage and employment.

However, not all advocates are as convinced that marriage promotion is the best way to attack poverty. Avis Jones-DeWeever, the director of Poverty, Education and Social Justice Programs at the Institute for Women's Policy Research, argues that spending government dollars on marriage promotion programs ignores all of the unmarried African Americans living in poverty.

According to the 2000 Census, only 44.9% of African American householders live with a spouse, compared to 80.6% of white Americans.

"Marriage-promotion programs are a diversion away from a true policy to attack poverty," says Jones-DeWeever. "The sooner we recognize that, the better off African Americans will be and the better off America will be." Jones-DeWeever argues that the reality is that for a large segment of the black population, particularly black women, marriage will not be an option. She says the programming should address ways to provide black women with access to programs that will allow them to be sustainable on their own.

While the study sparked a range of opinions on the economic value of marriage, Malone-Colon emphasized that the body of data on the subject is still very small.

Before too many conclusions are drawn, "we need more research," she says.