Summary
Contents
Subject index
The Handbook of Families and Poverty covers hotly debated issues associated with public policy and funded research as they relate to families and poverty. Contributors, bringing multiple perspectives to bear, aim to show alternatives to welfare in subgroups facing specific challenges that are currently not adequately addressed by the welfare system. Readers will appreciate the insightful summaries of research involving poverty and its relationship to couple, marital, and family dynamics.
Social Policy and Marriage
Social Policy and Marriage
What can government do to strengthen marriage? That is the most difficult question in national social policy today. I have not previously written much about this. Here are some preliminary thoughts.
To begin with, what is the marriage problem? I take it to mean two things. First, many fewer adults today marry and stay married than was once the case. One-fifth of adults have never been married at all, and about a half of marriages fail. Second, fewer children are born to or remain with married parents. A third of children are now born to unmarried mothers. These problems impose social costs that all poverty scholars acknowledge.
Like most social problems, the marriage problem has two dimensions. On one level, ...
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