Just Living Together: Cohabitation in the U'S'

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An Introduction to The National Poverty Center
At the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan www.npc.umich.edu Laura
K. Lee Program Manager
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About the NPC

• Established fall 2002 as a nonpartisan,
  university-based research center.
• Major funding from the Office of the Assistant
  Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S.
  Department of Health and Human Services
• Our Mission To promote high-quality research on
  the causes and consequences of poverty, evaluate
  and analyze policies designed to alleviate
  poverty, and train the next generation of poverty
  researchers.

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What we do

• Research
• Coordinated research projects (e.g. Race,
  Ethnicity, Immigration, and Poverty)
• Training and Mentoring
• Research grants (next deadline 2/15/05)
• Annual Summer Workshop ( 3/15/05)
• Postdoctoral Fellowships (1/13/05)
• Research Affiliate (11/1/04)
• Outreach to academics and policymakers
• On our website Policy Briefs Working Papers.
• www.npc.umich.edu

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Marriage on the Public Policy Agenda What Do
Policy Makers Need to Know from Research?
Kristin S. Seefeldt Michigan Program on Poverty
and Social Welfare Policy, Gerald R. Ford School
of Public Policy Pamela J. Smock Population
Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
Department of Sociology
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Outline of Presentation

• What does research suggest about potential
  challenges to
• a. Designing interventions
• b. Achieving desired outcomes
• What research is needed to move policy forward?

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Programs to Promote Healthy Marriages
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Program Services

• Marriage Education/Marriage Strengthening
  Services
• Curricula to strengthen relationship,
  communication skills
• Information about importance of marriage
• Marriageability Improvement Services
• Job training
• Mental health services
• Parenting skills

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• Challenges to Marriage Strengthening Programs and
  Interventions

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Challenges to Designing Initiatives

• Complicated Relationships Among Many Low-Income
  Families
• Data from Fragile Families study on multiple
  partner fertility
• Unmarried New Mothers 43 have children with
  other fathers
• Unmarried New Fathers 44 have children with
  other mothers

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WHITE COUPLE, MARRIED EIGHT MONTHS COHABITED TWO
YEARS
WIFE
HUSBAND
MALE CHILD
MALE CHILD
FEMALE CHILD
(visitation all)
MALE CHILD
FEMALE CHILD
MALE CHILD
MALE CHILD
(visitation)
(visitation)
EX-HUSBAND
EX-PARNTER
EX-PARTNER
EX-WIFE
EX-PARNTER
FEMALE CHILD
MALE CHILD
MALE CHILD
CHILD 2
CHILD 1
CHILD 3
CHILD 4
CHILD 5
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Challenges to Designing Initiatives

• How many couples are interested in marriage?
• Oklahoma Marriage Initiative Survey
• 77 of low-income people in relationships would
  consider participating in marriage promotion
  programs
• Fragile Families
• At birth, most unwed couples want to marry each
  other one year later 42 percent are no longer in
  a romantic relationship

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Challenges to Designing Initiatives

• Existing marriage curricula developed for and
  tested on middle-class couples

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Challenges to Designing Initiatives

• Potential need to adapt content, address other
  issues
• Infidelity and distrust (Edin and England, 2003)
• Childhood and current sexual and other abuse
  (Cherlin et. al, 2003)
• Unemployment and barriers to employment,
  including drug use and criminal convictions
  (Sams-Abiodun Sanchez, 2003)
• Desire for economic security prior to marriage
  (Gibson et. al, 2003 Edin England, 2003)
• Parenting/step-parenting issues
• Race and discrimination (Murry, 2003 Murry et.
  al, 2001).

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Challenges to Achieving Desired Outcomes

• Potential for small effects on proportion of
  couples who marry
• Simulations of Probability of Marriage One Year
• After Nonmarital Birth
• Percentage-Point Change in Likelihood of Marriage
• Improve Relationship Quality 3.4
• Improve Attitude toward Marriage 2.0
• Increase Males Wages 1.6
• Decrease Gender Distrust 2.0
• Improve all 4 11.5
• SourceCarlson, McLanahan, and England, 2004.

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Challenges to Achieving Desired Outcomes

• Incidence of multiple partner fertility may mean
  creation of more step-parent families and may not
  substantially improve child well-being
• A number of studies suggest that, on some
  measures, children in married stepfamilies do not
  fare better than those in single parent or
  cohabiting households (e.g., Acs Nelson, 2003)
  or those living with unmarried biological parents
  (Hofferth 2003).

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What research do we need to move policy forward?

• Research that assesses effects of marriage
  programs and interventions on the formation and
  maintenance of healthy marriages, with
  attention paid to understanding
• What types of policies and/or services affect
  which types of couples
• Who chooses to participate.

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What research do we need to move policy forward?

• Research that determines whether these
  programs/interventions have improved child
  well-being through effects of healthy marriage.
  Studies will need to
• Follow families long-term
• Be comprehensive in their focus.

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National Poverty Center website

• http//www.npc.umich.edu/
• Marriage Conference Proceedings
• Working paper
• Marriage on the Public Policy AgendaWhat Do
  Policy Makers Need to Know from Research?