Slide 1: Title page listing authors’ names and affiliations for the nine slide presentation given at the Brookings Institute on June 2, 2004 by W. Bradford Wilcox.

Title of Presentation: Religion and Marriage Among African Americans in Urban America

*Unless otherwise noted, data in this presentation come from The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

Slide 2: Bar chart showing marital status of urban mothers who had babies between 1998 and 2000

Title: Marriage is Fragile in Urban African American Communities

Figure 1 – Marital Status of Urban Mothers who had baby between 1998 and 2000

Slide 3: Bar chart showing church attendance by urban mothers by ethnic group

Title: But Church Attendance is High among African American Mothers

Figure 2 – Percentage of urban mothers who attend frequently (more than several times a month)

Bar chart showing:
White, Unmarried approximately 20 percent
White, Married approximately 40 percent
Black, Unmarried approximately 35 percent
Black, Married approximately 60 percent
Hispanic, Unmarried approximately 30 percent
Hispanic, Married approximately 45 percent

Slide 4: Bullet list of information on marriage ministries.

Title: Marriage Ministries for Families rare in Black Church

Marriage and parenting programs

Three percent of Black churches
Eighteen percent of other churches
Source: National Congregations Study

But marriage-related sermons, norms, and social support are not measured in the National Congregations Study


Slides 5 and 6: Bullet list of religious effects on Black married urban mothers

Title: Religious Effects on Black Married Mothers in Urban America

Compared to African American mothers who attend church infrequently:

Churchgoing African American women are seventy-three percent more likely to be married at the birth of their child

Churchgoing African American married mothers are thirty-one percent more likely to report that they have excellent relationships with their husbands

Compared to African American unmarried mother who attend church infrequently

Churchgoing African American unmarried mothers are one hundred-forty-eight times more likely to marry after the nonmarital birth

Churchgoing African American unmarried mothers are sixty-two percent more likely to rate their relationships with the fathers of their children as very good/excellent


Slide 7: Bullet list of reasons for religious effects.

Title: Explaining Religious Effects

Effects explained in part by relationship-related behaviors and norms:

Support/sacrifice – Father is more affectionate, understanding
Sexual fidelity – Couple has less conflict over sexual infidelity
Marriage Norms – Mothers more likely to value marriage

Attendance also linked to:

Social support and prayer – Buffer against stresses of poverty, racism, community distress
Rejecting quote The Street unquote – Turn to God and church family rather than drugs, alcohol, violence


Slide 8: List of statistics related to interest in relationship programs.

Title: Interest in Relationship Programs Among Urban Mothers

Interested in generic relationship program

Fifty-five percent African American married mothers
Fifty-three percent African American unmarried mothers
Fifty-eight percent All other mothers

Interested in religious relationship program

Seventy-nine percent African American married mothers
Sixty-eight percent African American unmarried mothers
Sixty-three percent All other mothers


Slide 9: Bullet list summarizing conclusions from the presentation

Title: Conclusions

Black Church is the bulwark of marriage in urban America
Considerable interest among African Americans in church-based relationship/marriage programs
But such programs are currently rare

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