Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

To explain the retreat from marriage among more economically disadvantaged groups, scholars have pointed to couples’ inability to meet a so-called “economic bar to marriage.” This economic bar, which is often perceived to be an accumulation of earnings, employment, and asset qualifications that signal self-sufficiency and financial security, is seen as the litmus test by which couples judge if their relationships are ready for marriage (Edin and Kefalas 2005; Smock, Manning and Porter 2005). The economic bar to marriage has been documented in qualitative studies across multiple contexts and samples. However, to our knowledge only one quantitative study (Gibson-Davis 2009) has tested whether meeting the bar is positively associated with transitions to marriage, using a narrow conceptualization of the bar.

Using the Building Strong Families dataset of low-income parents (n=4,444), we provide the first in-depth analysis of the components and correlates of the economic bar to marriage. We construct a rich conceptualization of the economic bar using seven distinct measures of economic resources and assets to examine if couples who met the economic bar were more likely to marry than couples who did not. Furthermore, using data from the mother and father, we evaluate how marriage patterns and reports of perceived relationship quality differ depending on whether the mother, father, or both parents contribute to meeting the bar.

We find that meeting the bar was associated with a two-thirds increase in marriage likelihood; this association was not reducible to employment status. The bar was not positively associated with cohabitation, suggesting that it applies specifically to marriage. Examining variations of the bar based on the number and gender of contributors, all variants were associated with marriage, even if the bar was based on the mother’s economic accomplishments alone. If mothers contributed to meeting the economic bar, they reported more positive relationship quality. Fathers’ contributions to the bar were not associated with relationship quality.

These results support qualitative research on the relevance of the bar for couples, and reinforce the importance of the multi-dimensional economic bar for marriage entry. Furthermore, our results highlight the role of maternal economic contributions in low-income relationships. Positive associations with marriage were robust to different definitions of the bar, differing thresholds to determine meeting the bar, and different index items used in bar composition. In short, the economic bar passed our theoretical and empirical tests, and performed as an important predictor of marriage entry among low-income couples. This paper uses a rich conceptualization of an index of economic resources to demonstrate the relevance of the bar for understanding how disadvantaged couples transition to marriage.