Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Brain Trust - Rachel Sheffield

Rachel Sheffield is a Research Assistant for the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, with a focus on welfare, marriage and family, and education. She joined the Brain Trust to discuss marriage in America. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her interview.

How unhealthy is the marriage situation in the U.S.?
We just got a research study saying that the percentage of married adults has fallen to a record low.

Only half of Americans are married. This has significant impact, for individuals and for the nation as a whole.
What effect does this have on poverty?
With this declining marriage, and also the unwed birth rates, it has a huge effect on poverty. 
A child in a single-parent family is much more likely to be poor than a child in a two-parent family.

Marriage is the biggest antidote to poverty. I don't think people realize how big of an impact this has on children's lives.
What about crime?
Children who are raised in impact families are much less likely to get into crime. They are more likely to have better psychological, emotional, even physical health.
How does marriage affect poverty?
We see the major breakdown of relationships in low-income communities. We need to start by telling these young men and women about the importance of marriage.

Think about how much we stress the importance of not dropping out of high school, and where we would be today if we didn't. We should tell them the same thing about marriage.

We have to begin by spreading that message of the importance of marriage.
Who should be spreading that message?
I think it needs to be done at every level, but certainly down at the churches, the schools.

They need to tell this message to their youth and children. The president can certainly explain why marriage is important. It's a message that everyone needs to share.
Is this toothpaste out of the tube? Can it be reversed?
I think we definitely have a long road ahead of us. But we have to start somewhere, or the problem is certainly going to become a lot worse.

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