Marriage Poverty - Massachusetts

Marriage:Massachusetts’s No. 1

Weapon AgainstChildhood Poverty

How the Collapse of Marriage Hurts Childrenand Three Steps to Reverse the Damage

A Heritage Foundation Book of Charts • 2012

Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society

Growth of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in Massachusetts, 1979–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in Massachusetts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

34.7%

40.8%

National

Massachusetts

In 2010, a record 34.7 percent of children in Massachusetts were born outside marriage. By con-trast, in 1979, 15 percent of chil-dren in the state were born outside marriage. The non-marital birth rate in the state has risen dramati-cally over the last three decades.

Note: Massachusetts is unusual in that it has no data on non-marital births before 1979. However, all states that do have data for the earlier period show rates which parallel the national trend displayed in the chart. In these states, the non-marital birth rates remained low until the onset of the federal War on Poverty in the mid-1960s, and then began to rise steadily. The Massachusetts unwed birth rate before 1979 very likely parallels the overall national trend.

Sources: U.S. Government, U.S. Census Bureau, and National Center for Health Statistics.

In Massachusetts, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 90 Percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007–2009 data.


PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

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30%

35%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

31.9%

3.1%

The rapid rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing is a major cause of high levels of child poverty in Massachusetts.

Some 31.9 percent of single mothers with children are poor compared to 3.1 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are ten times more likely to be poor than families in which the parents are married.

The higher poverty rate among single-mother families is due both to the lower education levels of the mothers and the lower income due to the absence of the father.

In Massachusetts, Three in Ten Families with Children Are Not Married



69.1%

30.9%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head about seven in ten families with children in Massachusetts. Three in ten are single-parent families.

In Massachusetts, 81 Percent of Poor Families with Children Are Not Married



19.4%

80.6%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in Massachusetts, eight in ten are not married. By contrast, only 19.4 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In Massachusetts, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Note: Figures have been rounded.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008 NHS data.


PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS BY AGE OF MOTHER

Age18–19:11.3%

Age20–24:34.8%

Age25–29:25.6%

Age30–54:23.1%

UnderAge 18:5.2%

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 5.2 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Massa-chusetts occur to girls under age 18.

By contrast, some 72 percent of out-of-wedlock births occur to young adult women between the ages of 18 and 29.

Less-Educated Women Are More Likely to Give Birth Outside of Marriage


PERCENTAGE OF BIRTHS THAT ARE MARITAL OR OUT OF WEDLOCK

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70%

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90%

100%

High School Dropout

(0–11Years)

High School Graduate

(12Years)

SomeCollege(13–15Years)

College Graduate

(16+Years)

65.2%

54.5%

42.0%

8.1%

34.8%

45.5%

58.0%

91.9%

Mother’s education level

Unmarried Mothers

Married Mothers

Unwed childbearing occurs most frequently among the women who will have the greatest difficulty sup-porting children by themselves: those with low levels of education.

In the U.S., among women who are high school dropouts, about 65.2 percent of all births occur outside marriage. Among women who have only a high school diploma, well over half of all births occur outside mar-riage. By contrast, among women with at least a college degree, only 8.1 percent of births are out of wed-lock.

Note: Specific data on out-of-wedlock births and maternal education are not available in Massachusetts. However, the pattern varies little between states. Massa-chusetts data will be very similar to the national data presented in this chart.


Both Marriage and Education Are Highly Effective in Reducing Child Poverty in Massachusetts



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60%

High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

53.0%

16.6%

35.7%

5.2%

25.6%

3.2%

9.6%

1.3%

Note: Virtually none of the heads of families in the chart who are high school dropouts are minor teenagers.

The poverty rate of married couples with children is dramati-cally lower than the rate for households headed by single parents. This is true even when the married couple is compared to single parents with the same education level.

For example, in Massachusetts, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 35.7 percent, but the poverty rate for a married couple family headed by an indi-vidual who, similarly, has only a high school degree is far lower at 5.2 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 78 percent among families with the same education level.

PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

Poverty Rate of Families by Education and Marital Status of the Head of Household

Single Married

Unwed Birth Rates Vary Strongly by Race in Massachusetts



PERCENT OF BIRTHS THAT ARE OUT OF WEDLOCK

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70%

80%

All Races White Non-

Hispanic

HispanicBlackNon-

Hispanic

34.0%

26.0%

58.4%

66.1%

8.3%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing varies considerably by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), over one in three births (34 percent) overall in Massachu-setts occurred outside marriage.

The rate was lowest among white non-Hispanics. Among that group about one in four births were non-marital.

Among non-Hispanic blacks, about six in ten births (58.4 per-cent) were to unmarried women. Among Hispanics, about two-thirds of births (66.1 percent) were out of wedlock.

Racial Composition of All Births and Out-of-Wedlock Births in Massachusetts

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

67.8% White Non-Hispanic

Asian/Other

Black Non-Hispanic

Hispanic14.2%

9.4% 16.1%

4.4%8.6%

51.9%

27.6%

In Massachusetts in 2008, some 67.8 percent of all births occurred to non-Hispanic whites, 14.2 percent occurred to Hispanics, and 9.4 percent occurred to non-Hispanic blacks.

Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to have children without being married, they account for disproportionately larger shares of all out-of-wedlock births. Even so, the largest number of unwed births are to white non-Hispanic women.

In Massachusetts in 2008, 51.9 percent of all non-marital births were to white non-Hispanics, 27.6 percent were to Hispanic women, and 16.1 percent were to black non-Hispanic women.

Non-Married White Families Are Eight Times More Likely to Be Poor in Massachusetts



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

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16%

18%

Married Families Non-Married Families

1.9%

16.0%

Marriage leads to lower poverty rates for whites, blacks, and His-panics.

For example, in 2009, the pov-erty rate for married white families in Massachusetts was 1.9 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was eight times higher at 16 percent.

Non-Married Black Families Are Five Times More Likely to Be Poor in Massachusetts

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Massachusetts was 5.8 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was five times higher at 27.6 percent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007– 2009 data.



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5.8%

27.6%

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are Four Times More Likely to Be Poor in Massachusetts

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Massachusetts was 11.9 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was nearly four times higher at 44.7 percent.




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11.9%

44.7%

Three Steps to Reduce Child Poverty through Marriage

1) Provide information on the benefits of marriage in reducing child poverty and improving child well-being.

2) Reduce anti-marriage penalties in means-tested welfare programs.

3) Promote life-goal-planning, marriage-strengthening, and divorce-reduction programs to increase healthy marriages and reduce divorce and separation.

Marriage is a highly effective institution which greatly decreases parental and child poverty while improving long-term outcomes for children. Conversely, the absence of marriage greatly increases welfare costs and imposes added burdens on taxpayers.

Unfortunately, almost no information on these topics is available in low-income communities. This information deficit should be corrected in the following manner:

• Explain the benefits of marriage in middle and high schools with a high proportion of at-risk youth;

• Create public education campaigns in low-income communities on the benefits of marriage; and,

• Require federally funded birth control clinics to provide information on the benefits of marriage and the skills needed to develop stable families to interested low-income clients.

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