This document summarizes key points from two ethnographies about unwed births and parenthood in low-income neighborhoods. It discusses how the ethnographies examine influences of neighborhood on views of intimate relationships, the meaning of children, and socioeconomic status and life outcomes. Regarding intimate relationships, the ethnographies found that economic stress, responsibility for children, and outside factors like crime or addiction often ended relationships between unwed parents. For low-income mothers and fathers, children provided purpose and responsibility and were seen as more important than relationships. Socioeconomic status impacted life chances, as unwed births often occurred before education and disadvantaged parents struggled to financially support children.

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Influences of Low Income Neighborhoods on Unwed Births and Parenthood
Taylor Talley and Emily Randall
College of Family and Consumer Science, The University of Georgia
HDFS 4950E: The Family
Dr. Jennifer George
August 4th, 2021

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Influences of Low Income Neighborhoods on Unwed Births and Parenthood
The middle class income bracket is shrinking. Over the past several decades, the
shrinking middle class has either been dissolved by the upper middle class or declined into
the lower middle class, or lower class all together (Follett, 2019). As the top 1 percent of the
United States holds fifteen times more wealth than the bottom 50 percent combined, the
growing number of individuals living in the bottom 50 percent, or in poverty, continues to
increase (Pfeffer, 2016).
This bottom 50 percent can especially be seen in the inner cities of Camden, New
Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is what the stories within Promises I Can Keep
and Doing The Best I Can are geographically based on (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin &
Nelson, 2013). These two inner cities have high levels of unwed births and low income
families. Entering the 21st century, nearly a third of these cities' children and a quarter of its
citizens live in poverty (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). When analyzing these two ethnographies,
neighborhoods highly impact parenthood for these citizens, especially unwed parenthood.
From 1950 to 1990, there was a 40 percent increase in the number of unwed births to citizens
from these inner cities (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013). Promises I Can Keep
and Doing The Best I Can show the real life scenarios in these inner cities where
neighborhoods surrounding these citizens not only impact their lives, but their children as
well. Analyzing these two ethnographies, this paper will compare and contrast low income
mothers and fathers in these inner city neighborhoods through statements and thoughts on
intimate relationships, the meaning of children, and socioeconomic status and life outcomes.
Views of Intimate Relationships
Intimate relationships within Promises I Can Keep and Doing The Best I Can take
very different pathways depending on the viewpoint of the mother, or father at the time.
Throughout both of these ethnographies, both young mothers and fathers intimate

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relationships are impacted by outside factors such as employment, criminal activity, drugs,
alcohol, social life, and many other factors (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013).
Doing The Best I Can describes that young mothers and fathers describe these unwed
pregnancies between two individuals as not a “real relationship,” but as an “affiliation”
between the young mother and father (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Economic stress is one of the
factors that the family stress model points to affecting intimate relationship quality, which
can especially be seen in these inner city, young parenting relationships (Lucas et al., 2020).
Keeping economic stress in mind, these young, impoverished mothers and fathers spend more
time focused on their children, supplying the basic needs and necessities for their survival.
Children become the whole focus of these impoverished, inner city young mothers
and fathers, which is explained heavily in Promises I Can Keep and Doing The Best I Can.
When impoverished young mothers have children, they tend to place higher responsibilities
and financial support on these young fathers, which can cause the economic stress Lucas
(2020) explained (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). The father then struggles between trying to become
employed and maintain a relationship with his child, even though the young mother can in
turn, be agitated that the father has not fulfilled his responsibilities (Edin & Kefalas, 2005;
Edin & Nelson, 2013). Instead of being able to mend the issues from responsibility, a social
life, and finances, these two young unwed partners place their focus on their child instead of
on each other, decreasing the likelihood of them staying together (Conger et al., 2010). As
Doing The Best I Can explains, the “package deal,” where the adult relationship takes the
utmost priority and the children take the level below, is becoming more uncommon as time
goes on. Instead, the “new package deal,” has evolved to where these mothers and fathers
place their children first and their child’s other parent second, which has shown to be the root
of the intimate relationship instability (Edin & Nelson, 2013).

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Outside factors are another huge impact of why many of the unwed parenting
relationships come to an end. In Promises I Can Keep, about one in three mothers said that
crime, usually drug dealing, and the inevitable spell of arrest and prison is what broke them
apart (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). Furthermore, more than a third blamed their partner’s
addictions for the strain on their relationship (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). However, the roles can
be reversed, and some young fathers find themselves taking on the responsibility of the child
more so when the mother has an addiction, which again, strains the relationship between the
two unwed partners (Edin & Nelson, 2013). As children cannot be the number one priority
when these factors become a part of one of these parents' lives, neither can an intimate
relationship. A study reported by Lipari and Van Horn (2017) showed around 8.7 million
children aged 17 and under lived in a household where at least one parent had a substance use
disorder (SUD), and 1.7 million of these children lived in single-parent households with
SUD. An example of a situation supported by these statistics was given in Doing The Best I
Can, as Will Donnelly left his ex-partner, Lori, due to a heroin addiction (Edin & Nelson,
2013). Just like this scenario, Edin and Nelson (2013) explain this is as one of the many
reasons intimate relationships decline and eventually end all together.
When analyzing these two ethnographies approaches on intimate relationships, the
conflict perspective theory explains how these views on intimate relationships are necessary
and perfectly okay, even if they are against societal norms. Conflict perspective theory is
defined as “the view that opposition and conflict define a given society and are necessary for
social evolution,” (Cohen, 2020, p. 18). These young fathers and mothers do not choose to
stick to societal norms and make decisions best for them and their family, even if that means
ending intimate relationships and choosing their child over creating one. Just as these unwed
mothers and fathers believe, conflict theorists support that these partners bring conflict and
change to staying in a relationship, having a nuclear family, and stay-at-home parent

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tendencies (Cohen, 2020, p. 19). Conflict theory explains why these unwed partners choose
to be single-parent and choose a life surrounding their child rather than a life surrounding
their partner, especially if the partner cannot have responsibility for themselves or their child.
To conclude, the view on intimate relationships by impoverished, young unwed mothers and
fathers is very dynamic, but is unprioritized in today’s society, as the child takes this place.
The Meaning of Children
Low income men and women value children and the meaning they bring to their life
early on. In Promises I Can Keep and Doing The Best I Can, both lower class mothers and
fathers express how children bring purpose, connection, love, and responsibility to their lives,
which is why they choose not to wait like their middle and upper class counterparts (Edin &
Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013). Specifically, in Promises I Can Keep, children are
viewed as a necessity, as living a childless life is a meaningless life (Edin & Kefalas, 2005).
On the other hand, in Doing The Best I Can, children are viewed as a source of meaning and
identity, as children cannot deny their fathers like other members of their life can (Edin &
Nelson, 2013). Both of these ethnographies do not discuss the implications of why low
income individuals should not have children, but rather, explain what these children mean to
these undereducated, low income, unwed mothers and fathers (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin &
Nelson, 2013). These families account for 41 percent, or every one in five children, under the
age of 18 who live in a low income household, or are considered poor (Yiang et al., 2019).
Among different social classes, there is a huge difference in not only the meaning of
children, but when children should come along in life. In Promises I Can Keep, female high
school dropouts are five times as likely, and male high school dropouts four times as likely
than their educated counterparts to say that childless people lead empty lives (Edin &
Kefalas, 2005). Impoverished individuals who remain childless feel inconceivable, as they
feel as if they can give their children opportunities they were not able to forego and give them

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a better life than they experienced themselves (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013).
On the other hand, middle and upper class individuals view children as a part of life after they
achieve their career, marriage, and financial security, and sometimes do not see children as a
part needed in their life at all (Swartz, 2008). The meaning of children among these classes is
different as well, as these children appear to be significantly different due to how they were
raised. Working class and lower class families tend to be overjoyed to be a parent and excited
for what is to come. These parents have other responsibilities usually as well, which does not
lead to overbearing parenting. Although, it is not that these middle and upper class parents
are not overjoyed and excited, they just see their children as needing “careful cultivation,”
which impacts their child’s independence, boredom levels, and happiness in life (Miller,
2015).
The meaning of children vastly impacts the outcome of these low income mothers and
fathers, as both ethnographies show that it usually makes the parents a better person (Edin &
Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013). In Doing The Best I Can, fatherhood is something that
disadvantaged fathers see as proof that they can accomplish something worthy. In other
words, they see it as a restart button, or making a duplicate of themselves that is less damaged
(Edin & Nelson, 2013). In Promises I Can Keep, motherhood is shown to offer possibilities
unlike no other for these low income women. These low income mothers expressed within
Promises I Can Keep that children mended and tamed their behavior, like preventing drug
and alcohol use, getting them off the street, and putting their lives back together (Edin &
Kefalas, 2005). Furthermore, these mothers and fathers have been able to accomplish
parenthood alone with the help of welfare from the government. Nonmarital births have been
on the rise since the introduction of the welfare check and have made it easier for single
parents to have the outcomes of motherhood or fatherhood (Edin & Kefalas, 2005). These
economic security programs help give these children better access to equal opportunities of

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children within other social classes, along with leading to higher economic success in young
mothers and fathers receiving economic help (Sherman & Mitchell, 2008). By having welfare
checks, it made these young women and men have to stop relying on each other to be
financially able to have a child, allowing them to experience parenthood and the impact of a
child on their lifestyle (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013).
Doing The Best I Can and Promises I Can Keep thoroughly analyse the meaning of
children to these low income mothers and fathers, as expressed by them that a childless life is
a meaningless life (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013). These two ethnographies
when discussing the meaning of children and how they impact the lives of these low income
parents surround the demographic perspective theory. Demographic perspective theory is
defined as “the study of how family behavior and household structures contribute to larger
population processes,” (Cohen, 2010, p. 33). Demographic theory helps the reader understand
how children can impact this large part of the population, from low income, to middle and
upper class. The reader can also understand why low income individuals choose to have a
child without a partner, and how having a child greatly impacts their life. These impoverished
mothers and fathers living in the inner cities of Camden and Philadelphia are one of the larger
parts of the population being impacted by welfare checks, birth control, and the evolution of
the term family. Overall, the meaning of children in the lives of these inner city parents
impacts outcomes for the adults, children, and their path of life.
Socioeconomic Status and Life Outcomes
Unwed parenthood is particularly prevalent among those of lower socioeconomic
status, including the populations of Camden, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The
exploration of the lives of unwed fathers and mothers living in these inner cities in the
ethnographies Doing the Best I Can and Promises I Can Keep was prompted by the
widespread notion that the children of these low-income, unwed families are at a

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disadvantage in society, facing poor performance in school, teen pregnancy, criminal
behavior, and difficulty securing a job (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Socioeconomic status and
associated life outcomes aims to explain this trend, as it has been found that children born
outside marriage in the United States are more likely to be poor and experience father
absence, negatively affecting children’s life outcomes (McLanahan et al., 2001).
The gap between unskilled, low-income Americans and educated Americans is
evident, with college-educated mothers comprising 6 percent of unwed births, as compared to
60 percent of unskilled Americans (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Disadvantaged fathers and
mothers tend to face the “tragedy” of unintended pregnancy and childbirth before a basic
education has been completed, in stark contrast with professional women who typically have
the opportunity to choose to pursue higher education and a career before parenthood (Edin &
Kefalas, 2005). A study by Butts and Sporakowski (1974) found this trend as well, stating
that unwed females were most likely to be lower-class women with an educational attainment
of high school or less.
Another implication of socioeconomic status is the issue of child support and the
ability to provide for children. In poorer communities, expectant fathers are still expected to
take on responsibility, even without a legal commitment to the mother. Unmarried men are
expected to pay child support to the mother, who more often than not has custody and
virtually complete control over the child. This custody arrangement can allow the mother to
block access that the father has to their child, depending on how she views his efforts to
provide for and support their child (Edin & Kefalas, 2005).
The fathers interviewed in Doing the Best I Can tended to feel that what they were
obligated to provide depended on their circumstances, taking on an “as-needed” approach to
financial support (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Men of lower socioeconomic status tend to take
pride in modest and infrequent contributions, given their limited resources and disadvantages

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in society. Doing the best they can to provide bolsters self-esteem within these men,
redefining the “good provider” as the man who is doing what he realistically can to support
his child (Edin & Nelson, 2013). However, unwed mothers tend to view this in a different
light. Many conflicts stem from the father being unwilling or unable to keep a job for any
length of time, not being paid enough to support a child, and taking too much of their
earnings on alcohol, marijuana, and other temptations while his family’s needs are not met
(Edin & Kefalas, 2005). Given this, though, mothers and fathers living in inner-cities both do
struggle with the implications of unwed pregnancy and supporting their children due to
financial struggles or limited biographical resources, focusing more on emphasizing non-
traditional aspects of parenthood such as emotional involvement.
Social class for families is a complicated issue. Max Weber defined the opportunity to
succeed as crucial to one’s class standing, and developed the sociological theory of life
chances, which is defined as the “practical opportunity to achieve desired material conditions
and personal experiences” (Cohen, 2020, p. 122). Life chances can explain how
socioeconomic status affects the life chances and outcomes of children in Camden and
Philadelphia. The financial capital of fathers affects their ability to provide child support or
other resources to the child and mother, affecting the likelihood of their children to succeed in
the future, whether that be attaining higher education or securing a job. In addition,
biographical resources such as the environment in which one is raised can affect life chances.
Growing up in an inner city marked by unemployment, poverty, and crime influences
outcomes, as it is not unlikely for children to follow in the footsteps of their parents or to be
influenced by what is occurring in the area in which they live. Overall, socioeconomic status
and biographical resources can influence the life chances of children, or their practical ability
to succeed.
Implications and Recommendations for Families

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Considering a broader sociological context of the United States, these findings have
the potential for severe implications on families and children. Those living in lower-income
inner cities are left behind while businesses move elsewhere, poverty and crime take over,
and there are few resources to help them. Inequality between these communities and
communities of higher socioeconomic status is stark, leaving families at a disadvantage in
areas such as employment, education, finances, and healthcare.
Inner cities such as Camden, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are often
marked by poverty, crime, and economic disadvantage. A great proportion of the population
in these areas struggle with unemployment, homelessness, addiction, fall into patterns of
violence and crime, and as the focus of Doing the Best I Can and Promises I Can Keep
describe, experience nonmarital childbirth (Edin & Kefalas, 2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013).
Three out of four children are born outside of marriage, as these cities have the highest rates
of nonmarital childbirth in the country (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Children from these low-
income, unwed families are at a disadvantage in society and are at risk for negative life
chances, facing poor performance in school, teen pregnancy, criminal behavior, and difficulty
securing a job (Edin & Nelson, 2013).
The environment and norms of these inner cities have serious implications for
families and children. One such implication is the impact on views of intimate relationships.
“Relationships” that resulted in children often began when the mother and father were young
adolescents, meeting through school, mutual friends, or even a casual encounter on a street
corner (Edin & Nelson, 2013). They seldom choose who to have a child with and when, often
seeing pregnancy as unplanned and that one thing just leads to another. The relationship
between the mother and father more often than not dissolves as a result of economic stress,
drug addiction, joblessness, or the lack of a connection with one another (Edin & Kefalas,
2005; Edin & Nelson, 2013).

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Another implication is that of socioeconomic status and life outcomes. Low-income,
unskilled or uneducated parents are more likely to bear children before even a basic education
is completed (Butts & Sporakowski, 1974). In addition, the ability to provide financial
assistance is limited for those of lower-income who do not have the resources to do so. Even
in poorer communities, expectant fathers are still legally obligated to pay child support,
although they typically can only afford to provide limited contributions at a time. Still, the
fathers interviewed in Doing the Best I Can tended to take pride in modest and infrequent
contributions, given their limited resources and disadvantages in society (Edin & Nelson,
2013). However, unwed mothers tend to view fathers as unwilling or unable to keep a job for
any length of time, not being paid enough to support a child, and taking too much of their
earnings on alcohol, marijuana, and other temptations while his family’s needs are not met
(Edin & Kefalas, 2005).
Concerning future directions, there are ways in which low-income parents could
succeed. Programs such as job training could allow more parents to access better employment
opportunities and therefore better financial resources. Many of these fathers and mothers
became parents at a young age, some before they were able to complete high school, so the
jobs they were skilled for were slim, including manufacturing and fast food (Edin & Nelson,
2013).
Another recommendation would be the importance of aiming to be present in the lives
of children. While this can be difficult to maintain for some, research by Butts and
Sporakowski (1974) suggested the absence of fathers was correlated with more negative
outcomes. Many fathers that were interviewed in Doing the Best I Can did view being there
for their children and cementing themselves as a moral force as one of the most important
things they could do, and mothers within Promises I Can Keep highly valued children and the

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time they spent with them, cementing the idea that being present in the lives of children is
highly important for healthy developmental outcomes.
In addition to being present for their children, mothers and fathers should aim to focus
on the relationship between one another, whether it be a civil relationship or romantic.
Mothers and fathers place their children first and their child’s other parent second, which has
shown to be the root of the intimate relationship instability (Edin & Nelson, 2013). Instability
and dissolution of relationships have shown to negatively impact children, so focusing on one
another can help alleviate tension and allow parents to better support their children.
Conclusion
Lower-income inner cities are often marked by poverty, crime, addiction, and high
rates of child bearing outside marriage. Mothers and fathers living in these areas often are
subject to relationship instability and low socioeconomic status, both of which impact the life
course of not only them, but their children as well. Even given the disadvantages and
struggles they may face, lower-income mothers and fathers both value children highly and
see them as giving them meaning, purpose, identity, and an unbreakable connection to
another person.

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