Romantic Unions in an Era of Uncertainty: A Post-Moynihan Perspective on African American Women and Marriage

Abstract

This article provides a brief overview of how African American women are situated in and around the thesis of the Moynihan Report. The authors take the lens of uncertainty and apply it to a post-Moynihan discussion of African American women and marriage. They discuss uncertainty in the temporal organization of poor women's lives and in the new terrains of gender relationships and how both influence African American women's thoughts and behaviors in their romantic relationships and marriages. They argue that much is to be learned from by focusing the lens in this way. It allows us to look at the contemporary romantic relationship and marriage behaviors of African American women in context and in ways that do not label them as having pathological behaviors that place them out of sync with broader societal trends.

The Role of Trust in Low‐Income Mothers' Intimate Unions

“…And, the development of trust in these relationships most likely proceeds along the lines described by Rempel, Holmes, and Zanna (1985), although this premise has not been empirically substantiated in low-income or racial and ethnic minority populations. Nonetheless, all too often, the lives of impoverished women are steeped in uncertainty and its corollary risks, perhaps rendering the stage oriented ideal of interpersonal trust more difficult to achieve (Burton & Tucker, 2009; Wood, 2001). For example, individuals with more or less stable sources of income can formulate strategic plans for their lives with a fair degree of confidence that those plans will come to fruition.…”

“…We assert that while mothers may harbor general attitudes about distrusting men, they seek, build, and maintain intimate unions by investing other forms of trust in their partners within the situations in which they find themselves . Low-income mothers, like any other category of actors entering social relationships, place trust in their potential partners based on a range of both generic and situationally specific conditions including economic uncertainty, recognized (and unrecognized) emotional and financial needs; and histories of physical or sexual abuse (Burton & Tucker, 2009; Huston & Melz, 2004; Josephson, 2002). Given the challenging and often variable conditions in which many low-income mothers find themselves, we expect mothers to exhibit a variety of trust-building and trust-placing approaches toward their romantic partners.…”

Black-White Differences in Attitudes Related to Pregnancy Among Young Women

“…Burton and Tucker (2009) elegantly describe the instability and insecurity that are so pervasive in the lives of poor African-American women – employment opportunities that are limited to intermittent and low-wage jobs, few alternatives (e.g., wealthy husbands) to reduce their breadwinner burden, transient living conditions, anxiety about serious relationships, and fear of death. Uncertainty about family formation, including about the long-term chances of a marriage surviving, is high for American women in general, and it is particularly high for poor women.…”

The Role of Body Size in Mate Selection among African American Young Adults

“…In particular, social arenas such as the church encourage conformity with more traditional ideals of appropriate gender relations (Hunter and Sellers 1998). Some scholars have also reported many African American women experience a tension between being independent and supporting their families and the need to “elevate and honor manhood” (Burton and Tucker 2009, p. 142). Such factors may curb the impact of African American women’s economic power.…”