Irish Wedding News
16/11/2012
The findings are based on a large survey about marriage, relationships and values, analyzed across income groups.
They raise questions about how effectively some government spending to promote the value of marriage among the poor is being spent.
"A lot of government policy is based on the assumption that low-income people hold less traditional views about marriage," said Benjamin Karney, a UCLA professor of psychology and senior author of the study. "However, the different income groups do not hold dramatically different views about marriage and divorce — and when the views are different, they are different in the opposite direction from what is commonly assumed. People of low income hold values that are at least as traditional toward marriage and divorce, if not more so."
Karney, who is co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA, added: "The United States is spending money teaching people about the value of marriage and family, and we are saying, congratulations, the battle has been won."
The study consisted of 6,012 people, 29.4 percent of low income, 26 percent of moderate income and 34.7 percent of high income. In the sample, 4,508 people lived in Florida, 500 in California, 502 in New York and 502 in Texas. The results from the four states were very comparable. The research was based on phone surveys that lasted an average of 27 minutes each. The participants were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements.
Lower income people held slightly more traditional values on the following statements than people with higher income:
•"Divorce can be a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage."
• "When there are children in the family, parents should stay married even if they no longer love each other."
• "It's better for a family if the man earns a living and the woman takes care of the family."
•"A husband and wife should be of the same race or ethnic group."
The values among all groups were equally traditional on the following statements:
• "A happy, healthy marriage is one of the most important things in life."
• "Children do better when their parents are married."
• "People who have children together should be married."
Low-income people hold much more traditional attitudes about divorce and are less likely to see divorce as a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage, Karney said. One area where low-income groups are less traditional, he said, is on the acceptability of single parenting.
These findings raise an obvious question: If poor people hold traditional values about marriage and divorce, why are their marriage rates lower and their out-of-wedlock births much higher than those of higher incomes? The answer, Karney said, is that values often do not predict behavior, and they don't in these areas. He noted that most people do not consider lying to be a good value, yet large numbers of people lie nevertheless.
"Why are low-income women postponing marriage but having babies?" Karney asked. "Because they don't want to get divorced. They think if they marry their current partner, they are likely to get divorced — and couples that have financial strain are much more likely to have marital difficulties. It's like these women have been reading the scientific journals about marriage; their intuition is absolutely correct.
He said many of these low-income women have no models for a successful marriage, and the marriages they see are in trouble. Also, they do not trust their financial and family future with the men they know. "However, they know they can raise a child," he said. "They may have been raised by a single mother, and people all around them were raised by single mothers. They see single-parent families that succeed, and they see the role of mother is valued."
(GK)
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Poor People Value Marriage 'As Much As The Middle Class And Rich'
Poor people hold more traditional values toward marriage and divorce than people with moderate and higher incomes, UCLA psychologists report in the Journal of Marriage and Family.The findings are based on a large survey about marriage, relationships and values, analyzed across income groups.
They raise questions about how effectively some government spending to promote the value of marriage among the poor is being spent.
"A lot of government policy is based on the assumption that low-income people hold less traditional views about marriage," said Benjamin Karney, a UCLA professor of psychology and senior author of the study. "However, the different income groups do not hold dramatically different views about marriage and divorce — and when the views are different, they are different in the opposite direction from what is commonly assumed. People of low income hold values that are at least as traditional toward marriage and divorce, if not more so."
Karney, who is co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA, added: "The United States is spending money teaching people about the value of marriage and family, and we are saying, congratulations, the battle has been won."
The study consisted of 6,012 people, 29.4 percent of low income, 26 percent of moderate income and 34.7 percent of high income. In the sample, 4,508 people lived in Florida, 500 in California, 502 in New York and 502 in Texas. The results from the four states were very comparable. The research was based on phone surveys that lasted an average of 27 minutes each. The participants were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements.
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Lower income people held slightly more traditional values on the following statements than people with higher income:
•"Divorce can be a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage."
• "When there are children in the family, parents should stay married even if they no longer love each other."
• "It's better for a family if the man earns a living and the woman takes care of the family."
•"A husband and wife should be of the same race or ethnic group."
The values among all groups were equally traditional on the following statements:
• "A happy, healthy marriage is one of the most important things in life."
• "Children do better when their parents are married."
• "People who have children together should be married."
Low-income people hold much more traditional attitudes about divorce and are less likely to see divorce as a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage, Karney said. One area where low-income groups are less traditional, he said, is on the acceptability of single parenting.
These findings raise an obvious question: If poor people hold traditional values about marriage and divorce, why are their marriage rates lower and their out-of-wedlock births much higher than those of higher incomes? The answer, Karney said, is that values often do not predict behavior, and they don't in these areas. He noted that most people do not consider lying to be a good value, yet large numbers of people lie nevertheless.
"Why are low-income women postponing marriage but having babies?" Karney asked. "Because they don't want to get divorced. They think if they marry their current partner, they are likely to get divorced — and couples that have financial strain are much more likely to have marital difficulties. It's like these women have been reading the scientific journals about marriage; their intuition is absolutely correct.
He said many of these low-income women have no models for a successful marriage, and the marriages they see are in trouble. Also, they do not trust their financial and family future with the men they know. "However, they know they can raise a child," he said. "They may have been raised by a single mother, and people all around them were raised by single mothers. They see single-parent families that succeed, and they see the role of mother is valued."
(GK)
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