This study examines why low‐income, unmarried parents who say that they plan to marry at the time their child is born do not follow through on their plans. We use data from a nationally representative birth cohort survey—the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N =3,710)—combined with data from an embedded qualitative study—Time, Love, Cash, Caring, and Children (n =47)—to explore the reasons behind this apparent discrepancy. We find that some of the difference between parents’ expectations and behavior may be because of the overstatement of intentions at the time of the birth. Most of the discrepancy, however, results from parents’ perceived social and economic barriers to marriage. Specifically, unmarried parents have a long list of financial and relationship prerequisites they believe must be met in order for them to wed. Combined with other factors, these standards lead to an indeterminate delay in marriage.

A primary goal of the 1996's landmark welfare reform legislation is to increase marriage rates among unskilled women with children. Current theories of marriage underpredict the extent of non-marriage, have not been adequately tested, or do not apply well to women with low-socioeconomic status. Furthermore, scholarly work on marriage attitudes among low-SES women suffers from a lack of up-to-date qualitative work. This study draws on qualitative interviews with 292 low-income single mothers in three U.S. cities. Inductive analysis reveals five primary motivations for non-marriage among low-income single mothers. Most mothers agree that potential marriage partners must earn significantly more than the minimum wage, but also emphasize the importance of stability of employment, source of earnings, and the effort men expend to find and keep their jobs. Mothers place equal or greater emphasis on non-monetary factors, such as how marriage may diminish or enhance status, how it may limit their control over household decisions, their distrust of men, and their fear of domestic violence. The author discusses these findings in relation to existing theories of marriage and in light of welfare reform. The median age at first marriage is the highest it has been since the United States began keeping reliable statistics: twenty-four for women and twenty-six for men (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1991b). The propensity to remarry has also declined (Cherlin 1992). Furthermore, more women and men are choosing not to marry during the prime family-building years, and, thus, more children are living with a single parent. Both non-marriage and single parenthood are particularly common among the poorest segments of American society (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1991a; Schoen and Owens, 1992:116). The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PROWRA)-the welfare reform lawaims to increase work and reduce "dependency" among low-income single mothers, but it also attempts to influence marriage trends by increasing the costs of non-marriage and non-marital childbearing for single mothers (through time-limited welfare benefits) and non-custodial fathers (through increased child support enforcement) (see Corbett 1998). 2 PROWRA's supporters have justified these attempts at social engineering by pointing to the strong association between single parenthood and child poverty. Just under half of all unmarried mothers have family incomes below the poverty line (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1993). Growing up with a single parent is associated with a number of other poor outcomes for children (McLanahan and Sandefur 1994). Half of the disadvantages these children face can be explained by the poverty that is so often associated with single parenthood; the other half is accounted for by other factors such as lower parental involvement, supervision, and higher residential mobility). Support for PROWRA was also fueled by taxpayer's concerns over who is left holding the financial bag when parents do not marry or stay married. In r...

Fatherhood has traditionally been viewed as part of a "package deal" in which a father's relationship with his child is contingent on his relationship with the mother. We evaluate the accuracy of this hypothesis in light of the high rates of multiple-partner fertility among unmarried parents using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a recent longitudinal survey of nonmarital births in large cities. We examine whether unmarried mothers' and fathers' subsequent relationship and parenting transitions are associated with declines in fathers' contact with their nonresident biological children. We find that father involvement drops sharply after relationships between unmarried parents end. Mothers 'transitions into new romantic partnerships and new parenting roles are associated with larger declines in involvement than fathers' transitions. Declines in fathers' involvement following a mother's relationship or parenting transition are largest when children are young. We discuss the implications of our results for the well-being of nonmarital children and the quality of nonmarital relationships faced with high levels of relationship instability and multiple-partner fertility.

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