SOC 275 Unit 3

1.  In the United States, White women marry later in life, are less likely to marry at all, and have higher rates of marital instability than all other ethnic groups.    

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Compared to both white and Hispanic women, Black women marry later in life, are less likely to marry at all, and have higher rates of marital instability.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/

2.  Structural factors such as declining employment prospects and rising incarceration rates for Black men play a role in marriage patterns. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Structural factors—for example, declining employment prospects and rising incarceration rates for unskilled black men—clearly play a role, the authors write, but such factors don’t fully explain the divergence in marriage patterns.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/

3. Hispanic children living with both biological parents is higher than for Black and White children. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

In 2014, 70 percent of non-Hispanic white children (ages 0–18) and roughly 59 percent of Hispanic children were living with both of their biological parents. The same was true for only a little more than one-third of black children.¹

^{Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/}

4.  Single-parent families are associated with poorer outcomes for children, such as low educational attainment and child-bearing. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Although many children raised in single-parent households thrive and prosper, at the population level, single-parent families are associated with poorer outcomes for children, such as low educational attainment and teen childbearing.²

^{Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/}

5. Women’s changing roles in society have contributed to the idea that marriage is no longer a necessity.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

As the imperative to marry has fallen, alongside other changes in the economy that have increased women’s economic contributions to the household, socioeconomic standing has become increasingly important for marriage.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/

6. In the U.S., the median age for a woman’s first marriage is 25. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Young adults in the United States are waiting longer to marry than at any other time in the past century. Women’s median age at first marriage currently stands at 27, compared to a median marriage age of 24 as recently as 1990 and a low of just over 20 in 1955.⁴

^{Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/}

7.  Black women are more likely to be married than White women. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

At all ages, black Americans display lower marriage rates than do other racial and ethnic groups (see table 1, panel A). Consequently, a far lower proportion of black women have married at least once by age 40.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/

8.   In the United States, divorce rates highest for Asian and foreign born Hispanic women.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

At nearly every age, divorce rates are higher for black than for white women, and they are generally lowest among Asian and foreign-born Hispanic women.⁷

^{Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/}

9. In the United States, racial and ethnic differences in marriage have been roughly the same since the 17^th century. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Although social scientists sometimes attribute racial differences in family patterns to long-run historical influences such as the legacy of slavery, marriage was common among black families in the early 20th century.¹⁰ Thus the racial divergence we see now in marriage formation is relatively recent.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/

10.  Research indicates that labor market disparities and structural disadvantages for people of color, especially Black men, contribute to the marriage gap. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Empirical research best supports explanations for the Black-White marriage gap that involve labor market disparities and other structural disadvantages that Black people face, especially Black men. These explanations are rooted in classic demographic arguments about the affordability of marriage and about imbalances in the numbers of men and women available for marriage.¹⁷

^{Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4850739/}