marriage & poverty: connecticut

Marriage:Connecticut’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 • January 2012

Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society

Growth of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in Connecticut, 1929–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in Connecticut

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

36.5%

40.8%

National

Connecticut

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

In 2010, 36.5 percent of children in Connecticut were born outside marriage. Historically, this was unusual. Throughout most of Connecticut’s history, out-of-wedlock childbearing was rare. Before World War II, only four percent of children in Connecticut, were born outside marriage. By 1980, the number had risen to 18 percent.

Unfortunately, data on non-marital births in Connecticut are unavailable between 1943 and 1979. However, all states that have data for this period had rates which parallel the national trend shown 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 Connecticut unwed birth rate between 1943 and 1979 very likely parallels the overall national trend.

In Connecticut, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 91 Percent

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


PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

30.3%

2.7%

The rapid rise in out-of-wedlock childbearing is a major cause of high levels of child pov-erty in Connecticut.

Some 30.3 percent of single mothers with children were poor compared to 2.7 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are eleven 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 Connecticut, Three in Ten Families with Children Are Not Married



69.6%

30.4%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head about 70 percent of families with children in Connecticut. Three in ten are single-parent families.

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



18.6%

81.4%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in Connecticut, 81.4 percent are not married. By contrast, only 18.6 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In Connecticut, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 5.7 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Connecticut 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.

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

Age18–19:12.1%

Age20–24:35.0%

Age25–29:24.9%

Age30–54:22.3%

UnderAge 18:5.7%

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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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

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 supporting 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 marriage. By con-trast, among women with at least a college degree, only 8.1 percent of births are out of wedlock.

Note: Specific data on out-of-wedlock births and maternal education are not available in Connecticut. However, the pattern varies little between states. Con-necticut 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 Connecticut

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

For example, in Connecticut, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 30.8 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 4.2 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 84 percent among families with the same education level.



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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

58.9%

14.6%

30.8%

4.2%

19.6%

2.5%

9.8%

1.2%

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

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 Connecticut



PERCENT OF BIRTHS THAT ARE OUT OF WEDLOCK

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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

All Races White Non-

Hispanic

Hispanic BlackNon-

Hispanic

36.4%

22.1%

64.2%

69.8%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing varies considerably by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), more than one in three births in Connecticut occurred outside marriage. The rate was lowest among whites. Among that group around one in five births were non-marital.

Among Hispanics, nearly two in three children were born out-of-wedlock. Among blacks, seven in ten births were to unwed mothers.

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

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

59.3% White Non-Hispanic

Asian/Other

Black Non-Hispanic

Hispanic

21.5%

12.7%

6.5%

36.0%

37.8%

24.4%

1.8%

In Connecticut in 2008, some 59.3 percent of all births occurred to non-Hispanic whites, 21.5 percent occurred to Hispanics, and 12.7 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.

In Connecticut in 2008, 37.8 percent of all non-marital births were to Hispanic women, 36 percent were to white non-Hispanic women, and 24.4 percent were to black non-Hispanic women.

Non-Married White Families Are Ten Times More Likely to Be Poor in Connecticut

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 Connecticut was 1.3 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was about ten times higher at 12.5 percent.



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

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2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

Married Families Non-Married Families

1.3%

12.5%

Non-Married Black Families Are Nine Times More Likely to Be Poor in Connecticut

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Connecticut was 3.2 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was nine times higher at 29.4 percent.




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5%

10%

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20%

25%

30%

35%


3.2%

29.4%

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are Five Times More Likely to Be Poor in Connecticut

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Connecticut was 8.5 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was five times higher at 43.7 percent.




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10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


8.5%

43.7%

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.

The Family & Religion Initiative is one of 10 Transformational Initiatives making up The Heritage Foundation’s Leadership for America campaign. For more products and information related to this initiative or to learn more about the Leadership for America campaign, please visit heritage.org.

The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited gov-ernment, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

Our vision is to build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish. As conservatives, we believe the values and ideas that motivated our Founding Fathers are worth conserving. As policy entrepreneurs, we believe the most effective solutions are consistent with those ideas and values.

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marriage & poverty: connecticut

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