Poor people hold more traditional values toward marriage and divorce than people with moderate and higher incomes, according to researchers at UCLA.
The study found that lower income people held slightly more traditional values on the following statements than people with higher income:
- "Divorce can be a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage."
- "When there are children in the family, parents should stay married even if they no longer love each other."
- "It’s better for a family if the man earns a living and the woman takes care of the family."
- "A husband and wife should be of the same race or ethnic group."
The values among all groups were equally traditional on the following statements:
- "A happy, healthy marriage is one of the most important things in life."
- "Children do better when their parents are married."
- "People who have children together should be married."
The findings, which have been reported in the Journal of Marriage and Family, are based on a large survey about marriage, relationships and values, analysed across income groups. They raise questions about how effectively some $1billion in government spending to promote the value of marriage among the poor is being spent.
"A lot of government policy is based on the assumption that low-income people hold less traditional views about marriage," said Benjamin Karney, a UCLA professor of psychology and senior author of the study. "However, the different income groups do not hold dramatically different views about marriage and divorce — and when the views are different, they are different in the opposite direction from what is commonly assumed. People of low income hold values that are at least as traditional toward marriage and divorce, if not more so."