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Marrying, Unmarrying, and Poverty Dynamics among Mothers with Children Living at Home

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Abstract

Using the two-way transitions model and a sample of mothers with children living at home who experienced poverty, we examined how the changes in mothers’ marital status relate to the odds of exiting and reentering poverty. The data came from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort (1979–1998). This study found an asymmetric association between poverty dynamics and becoming unmarried. Becoming unmarried was associated with increased odds of both getting out of poverty and reentering poverty, where the magnitude of the latter is greater than that of the former, when family background, family characteristics, and human capital and employment factors are controlled.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture through the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for a presentation at the Population Association of America 2002 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. We thank the editor, Jeanine Casler, Stephanie E. Vanderford, and anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier versions.

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  1. Department of Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia, Dawson Hall, Athens, GA, 30602-2622, USA

    Teresa A. Mauldin & Yoko Mimura

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  1. Teresa A. Mauldin
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  2. Yoko Mimura
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Correspondence to Yoko Mimura.

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Mauldin, T.A., Mimura, Y. Marrying, Unmarrying, and Poverty Dynamics among Mothers with Children Living at Home. J Fam Econ Iss 28, 566–582 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-007-9076-5

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