Marriage & Poverty: Arizona

Marriage:Arizona’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 Arizona, 1929–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in Arizona

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

44.9%

40.8%

National

Arizona

Throughout most of Arizona’s history, out-of-wedlock childbear-ing was rare.

In 1968, just four years after the federal government began the War on Poverty, only 10.1 percent of children in Arizona were born outside marriage. However, over the next five decades, the number rose rapidly. By 2010, 44.9 percent of births in Arizona occurred outside of marriage.

Note: Data on non-marital births in Arizona are unavailable between 1945 an 1967. However, all states that do have data for this period show a rapid growth in non-marital childbearing from the mid-1960s on. The Arizona trend during this period undoubtedly parallels the national trend shown in the chart.

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

In Arizona, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 73 Percent

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


PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

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20%

30%

40%

50%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

35.4%

9.4%

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

Some 35.4 percent of single mothers with children were poor compared to 9.4 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are about four times more likely to be poor than fami-lies in which the parents are mar-ried.

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 Arizona, Over One-Third of All Families with Children Are Not Married



65.2%

34.8%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head about two-thirds of families with children in Arizona. Over one-third are single-parent families.

In Arizona, 64 Percent of Poor Families with Children Are Not Married



36.2%

63.8%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in Arizona, nearly two-thirds are not married. By contrast, 36.2 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In Arizona, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 9.1 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Arizona occur to girls under age 18.

By contrast, some 73 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

Age18–19:14.7%

Age20–24:35.5%

Age25–29:22.7%

Age30–54:18.0%

UnderAge 18:9.1%

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 Arizona. However, the pattern varies little between states. Arizona 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 Arizona



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

64.0%

33.9%

12.1%

24.4%

5.1%

10.7%

1.9%

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 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 Arizona, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 33.9 percent, but the poverty rate for a married couple family headed by an individual who, similarly, has only a high school degree is far lower at 12.1 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 69 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

26.9%

Unwed Birth Rates Vary Strongly by Race in Arizona



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

American Indian

45.3%

29.7%

56.5%

62.8%

77.0%8.3%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing varies considerably by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), 45.3 percent of all births in Arizona occurred outside marriage.

The rate was lowest among non-Hispanic whites: three in ten births in this group were non-marital. Among Hispanics, 56.5 percent of births were out-of-wedlock.

Among blacks, well over six in ten births were to unmarried women. Among American Indi-ans, over three in four (77 per-cent) births were out-of-wedlock.

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

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

43.6%

White Non-Hispanic

Asian/OtherBlack Non-Hispanic

Hispanic

42.4%

6.0% 10.2%

4.1%

54.4%

27.8%

5.7%2.0%3.9%

American Indian

In Arizona in 2008, some 43.6 percent of all births occurred to Hispanics, 42.4 percent occurred to non-Hispanic whites, 6 percent occurred to American Indians, and 4.1 percent occurred to non-Hispanic blacks.

Because blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians are more likely to have children without being married, they account for dispro-portionately larger shares of all out-of-wedlock births.

In 2008, 54.4 percent of all non-marital births in Arizona were to Hispanics, 27.8 percent were to white non-Hispanic women, 10.2 percent were to American Indians, and 5.7 percent were to black non-Hispanic women.

Non-Married White Families Are Six Times More Likely to Be Poor in Arizona

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 Arizona was 3.2 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was nearly six times higher at 17.8 percent.



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

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5%

10%

15%

20%

Married Families Non-Married Families

3.2%

17.8%

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

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Arizona was 6.9 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was nearly five times higher at 30.9 percent.




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40%


6.9%

30.9%

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are Almost Three Times More Likely to Be Poor in Arizona

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Ari-zona was 14.9 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was nearly three times higher at 40 percent.




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14.9%

40.0%

Non-Married American Indian Families Are Twice as Likely to Be Poor in Arizona




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17.9%

39.3%

In 2009, the poverty rate for American Indian married families in Arizona was 17.9 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was more than twice as high at 39.3 percent.

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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