“But the flaw in this approach is the assumption that all marriages are equally beneficial,” Williams said.
In fact, research shows that single mothers living in impoverished neighborhoods are likely to marry men who won’t help them get out of poverty.
These men are likely to have children from other partnerships, lack a high school diploma, and have been incarcerated or have substance abuse problems, Williams noted.
“Single mothers who marry and later divorce are worse off economically than single mothers who never marry,” she said.
Promoting marriage among single mothers may not help their children, either. Recent research by Williams and several colleagues found no physical or psychological advantages for the majority of teenagers born to a single mother who later married.
Rather than promoting marriage, the government should focus on preventing unintended births, Williams said. She found in one study that having a child outside of marriage is associated with negative mental health outcomes among African-American women only when the birth was unexpected.
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一位研究主管称,政府制定了政策,想要通过促成未婚妈妈结婚来帮助她们脱贫。但是,这不能从根本上解决问题,结婚可能不会帮助未婚妈妈脱贫。
美国俄亥俄州立大学社会学副教授、克丽丝蒂•威廉姆斯
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