Attitudes of nonmarried welfare-reliant women towards marriage and sexual abstinence

The current push towards welfare reform in America encourages the promotion of work, abstinence and marriage. Consistent with the predictions of Campbell (2004), social welfare policymakers neither know enough about how welfare-reliant women and men feel about marriage, nor have they assessed the many obstacles and barriers that poor women face despite their desire to marry.; This qualitative case study explored the attitudes of nonmarried, welfare-reliant women towards marriage and sexual abstinence before the reauthorization of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act becomes law in the State of South Carolina. Qualitative interviews were conducted with eight nonmarried women in South Carolina to secure descriptive accounts of their experiences with marriage and abstinence.; The participants were single mothers, at least 18 years of age, with at one least child, and recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Category construction through content analysis and cross-case comparisons and contrasts comprised the higher data analysis procedure. The emergent categories and codes comprised the final descriptive, narrative report.; The findings of this study indicated that welfare-reliant women valued the institution of marriage, but did not believe that marriage should be necessary to keep their welfare benefits or to have children. Moreover, the women did not believe that marriage should be a prerequisite for adult sexual intercourse. The women believed that teenage sexual involvement is problematic and contributes to increased out-of-wedlock birth, sexually transmitted diseases, and poverty in America.; Congress is currently preparing to reauthorize the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which was designed to encourage both work and marriage. Among other suggested reforms, President George W. Bush's administration is strongly promoting marriage and sexual abstinence to reduce welfare dependency in America. Albeit, researchers are still learning about how women and men receiving welfare assistance feel about marriage and sexual abstinence.; This study has implications for positive social change because of (a) its potential to give voice to a group of women who have been silenced and marginalized; (b) its potential to discredit myths and stereotypes associated with single, welfare-reliant mothers; and (c) its potential to challenge the values, assumptions, and ideologies that undergird current welfare reform in America.