Attitudes toward Traditional Marriage: A Comparison of TANF Recipients and a General Population of Adults

Abstract

Marriage enhancement programs enacted under the federal Healthy Marriage Initiative imply that marriage behaviors and attitudes of poor women are different from those of the middle class, and that the cash assistance program is an appropriate venue to change these attitudes.A population of long-term recipients of public cash assistance and a random sample of general population adults were compared regarding views toward traditional marriage. The general population was significantly more aligned with views of traditional marriage, but when factors that directly affect marriage attitudes and behaviors were controlled for, views on traditional marriage were similar for the two groups. Study findings suggest that attitudes toward marriage are not necessarily related to economic status. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE •Those responsible for implementing TANF-funded marriage initiatives should recognize that many people enter romantic relationships with personal experiences of abuse and partner violence.

The perceived legitimacy of a basic income among Finnish food aid recipients

“…In the case of vulnerable populations, comparisons have often been made in order to obtain a ‘benchmark’ with which to compare the situation, characteristics, views, etc. of the vulnerable group (see e.g., Bullock, ; Muñoz, Vázquez, & Vásquez, ; Taylor & Vogel‐Ferguson, ). Nevertheless, while providing valuable information that cannot be obtained by other means, the nature of the hard‐to‐reach population and related methodological challenges of data collection have to be considered when interpreting results (see Swärd, ; also Cohen & Wagner, ).…”