Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Trail, Thomas E.
• Karney, Benjamin R.

Titel

What's (Not) Wrong With Low-Income Marriages

Ist Teil von

• Journal of marriage and family, 2012-06, Vol.74 (3), p.413-427

Ort / Verlag

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

Wiley Online Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In the United States, low marriage rates and high divorce rates among the poor have led policymakers to target this group for skills and values-based interventions. The current research evaluated the assumptions underlying these interventions; specifically, the authors examined whether low-income respondents held less traditional values toward marriage, had unrealistic standards for marriage, and had more problems managing relational problems than higher income respondents. They assessed these issues in a stratified random sample that oversampled low-income and non-White populations (N = 6,012). The results demonstrated that, relative to higher income respondents, lowincome respondents held more traditional values toward marriage, had similar romantic standards for marriage, and experienced similar skills-based relationship problems. Low-income groups had higher economic standards for marriage and experienced more problems related to economic and social issues (e.g., money, drinking/drug use) than did higher income respondents. Thus, efforts to save low-income marriages should directly confront the economic and social realities these couples face.