Kristi Williams, associate professor of sociology, is the author of a new study finding that marrying and then divorcing is associated with worse economic and health outcomes among single mothers than remaining single. The new briefing paper, written by Williams, was released January 6 by the Council on Contemporary Families, as part of their in-depth look at the War on Poverty.

Williams writes, "A nationally representative study of more than 7,000 women found that approximately 64 percent of the single mothers who married were divorced by the time they reached age 35-44. More importantly, single mothers who marry and later divorce are worse off economically than single mothers who never marry."

In the report, Williams says a reason for this has a lot to do with environment, writing, "The pool of potential marriage partners for single mothers in impoverished communities does not include many men with good prospects for becoming stable and helpful partners."

“If the goal of marriage promotion efforts was truly to lower poverty rates and improve the well-being of unmarried parents and their children, then it is time to take a different approach,” said Williams.

In 1996 Congress passed legislation which allowed states to allocate welfare funds to programs encouraging single mothers to marry—the thought being that a two-income household would result in fewer problems for children raised in those homes down the line.

“The flaw in this approach is the assumption that all marriages are equally beneficial,” Williams said.

In fact, research shows that single mothers living in impoverished neighborhoods are likely to marry men who won’t help them get out of poverty.

These men are likely to have children from other partnerships, lack a high school diploma, and have been incarcerated or have substance abuse problems, Williams noted.

Promoting marriage among single mothers may not help their children, either. Recent research by Williams and several colleagues found no physical or psychological advantages for the majority of teenagers born to a single mother who later married.

Rather than promoting marriage, the government should focus on preventing unintended births, Williams said. She found in one study that having a child outside of marriage is associated with negative mental health outcomes among African-American women only when the birth was unexpected.