marriage & poverty: alaska

Marriage:Alaska’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 Alaska, 1959–2010

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

heritage.orgChart 1 • Marriage and Poverty in Alaska

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

37.6%

40.8%

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

In 1964, after the federal gov-ernment began the War on Pov-erty, only 5.8 percent of children in Alaska were born outside mar-riage. However, over the next five decades, the number rose rapidly. By 2010, 37.6 percent of births in Alaska occurred outside of mar-riage.

Note: Data on non-marital births in Alaska are unavailable before 1959. However, all states that do have data for earlier years show low levels of non-marital childbearing with little increase prior to the mid-1960s. The Alaska rate before 1959 undoubtedly parallels the national trend shown in the chart. In the mid-1960s out-of-wedlock childbearing began increasing rapidly in all states.

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

National

Alaska

In Alaska, Marriage Drops the Probability of Child Poverty by 87 Percent

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


PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THAT ARE POOR

0%

10%

20%

30%

Single-Parent, Female-Headed

Families

Married, Two-Parent Families

25.8%

3.4%

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

Some 25.8 percent of single mothers with children are poor compared to 3.4 percent of mar-ried couples with children.

Single-parent families with children are nearly eight 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 Alaska, One-Third of All Families with Children Are Not Married



66.4%

33.6%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Overall, married couples head two-thirds of families with children in Alaska. One-third are single-parent families.

In Alaska, 77 Percent of Poor Families with Children Are Not Married



23%

77%

Unmarried Families

Married Families

Among poor families with children in Alaska, about three-quarters are not married. By contrast, only 23 percent of poor families with children are headed by married couples.

In Alaska, Few Unwed Births Occur to Teenagers

Out-of-wedlock births are often confused erroneously with teen births, but only 6.7 percent of out-of-wedlock births in Alaska occur to girls under age 18.

By contrast, some 78 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

Age18–19:14.4%

Age20–24:39.6%

Age25–29:23.8%

Age30–54:15.5%

UnderAge 18:6.7%

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


PERCENTAGE OF BIRTHS THAT ARE MARITAL OR OUT OF WEDLOCK

0%

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



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

High School Dropout

High School Graduate

SomeCollege

College Graduate

48.6%

9.8%

35.5%

8.2%

16.1%

2.1%

13.2%

0.7%

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 Alaska, the poverty rate for a single mother who has only a high school diploma is 35.5 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 8.2 percent.

On average, marriage drops the poverty rate by around 85 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 by Race in Alaska



PERCENT OF BIRTHS THAT ARE OUT OF WEDLOCK

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

All Races White Non-

Hispanic

Hispanic BlackNon-

Hispanic

American Indian/Alaskan

Native

37.6%

24.3%

34.9%

47.1%

67.9%8.3%

Out-of-wedlock childbearing in Alaska varies by race.

In 2008 (the most recent year for which racial breakdown is available), 37.6 percent of births in Alaska occurred outside marriage. The rate was lowest among non-Hispanic whites. Among that group about one in four births were non-marital.

Among Hispanics, over one in three births were out-of-wedlock. Among blacks, nearly half of births were to unmarried women.

The highest rate was among native American Indians: nearly seven in ten births (67.9 percent) were to unmarried women.

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

ALL BIRTHS OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS



Note: Figures have been rounded.

56.9%

24.5%

44.3%American

Indian/Alaskan Native

Asian/Pacific Islander

Black/Non-HispanicHispanic

8.0%5.7%

36.8%

7.6%

5.3%4.4%3.5%1.4% 1.6%

White Non-Hispanic

Not stated

In Alaska in 2008, some 56.9 percent of all births occurred to white non-Hispanic women, 24.5 percent occurred to American Indians/Alaskan natives, 8 percent occurred to Asians, and 5.7 per-cent occurred to Hispanics.

Because American Indians/ Alaskan natives are more likely to have children without being mar-ried, they account for dispropor-tionately large share of all out-of-wedlock births.

In Alaska in 2008, 44.3 percent of all non-marital births were to American Indian/Alaskan natives, 36.8 percent were to white non-Hispanic women, 7.6 percent were to Asian women, and 5.3 percent occurred to Hispanic women.

Non-Married White Families Are 15 Times More Likely to Be Poor in Alaska

Marriage leads to lower poverty rates for whites, American Indians, blacks, and Hispanics.

For example, in 2009, the pov-erty rate for married white families in Alaska was 1.2 percent. But the poverty rate for non-married white families was 15 times higher at 17.9 percent.



PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES THAT ARE POOR

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Married Families Non-Married Families

1.2%

17.9%

Non-Married American Indian Families Are Three Times More Likely to Be Poor in Alaska




0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%


8.9%

23.1%

In 2009, the poverty rate for American Indian and Alaskan Native married families in Alaska was 8.9 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was nearly three times higher at 23.1 percent.

Non-Married Hispanic Families Are 18 Times More Likely to Be Poor in Alaska

In 2009, the poverty rate for Hispanic married families in Alaska was 2.1 percent, while the poverty rate among non-married families was 18 times higher at 38.4 percent.




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5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%


2.1%

38.4%

Non-Married Black Families Are Two Times More Likely to Be Poor in Alaska

In 2009, the poverty rate for married black couples in Alaska was 3.9 percent, while the poverty rate for non-married black families was over two times higher at 8.2 percent.




0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

6%

7%

8%

9%


3.9%

8.2%

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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marriage & poverty: alaska

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