The “Success Sequence” refers to a series of steps—graduating high school, working full-time, and marrying before having children—that are shown to dramatically decrease one’s likelihood of living in poverty. But what happens if, for a variety of reasons, these steps are completed out of order?

In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Angela Rachidi, a senior fellow at AEI focusing on poverty and the effects of federal safety-net programs on low-income individuals and families. Angela discusses her recent report, which examines how completing certain “success sequence” steps (namely, graduating high school, finding full-time work, and getting married) can impact poverty rates for unmarried mothers. Angela explains the immense economic burden and reduced odds of escaping poverty faced by those who have children before marriage or completing their education, especially when the mother is not working toward those critical life milestones. However, her findings indicate that for these young parents, education and marriage in particular have an immensely positive impact, even if these milestones are achieved after having a child. Naomi, Ian, and Angela conclude by discussing how policymakers and community leaders can better encourage and reinforce the value of the completing the steps of the “success sequence” among American youth and adults, even when life does not go exactly as planned.

Resources

-Dynamics of Families After a Nonmarital Birth | Angela Rachidi

-The Success Sequence for Unmarried Mothers | Angela Rachidi

Show Notes

-0:00:44 | Why did you decide to study this particular population?

-0:03:12 | Can you talk about the “Fragile Families” dataset that you used for this report?

-0:05:08 | What were your findings for these women?

-0:12:34 | Can you isolate marriage in correlation with reducing poverty?

-0:14:29 | Can you talk about the role of multi-partner fertility?

-0:16:48 | How should we share this information with young women in these situations?

0:18:53 | What role do you think personal faith commitment plays into all of this?