Chapter 9, Welfare Dependency, Chapter 10, Parenting Summary and Analysis

Most assume that welfare mothers have low IQs because they did not do well in school. After all, it seems like women with higher IQs can find jobs more easily and resist welfare dependency as a result. 75% of white women on welfare within one year of their first child's birth were in the bottom 25% of IQ, as opposed to 5% in the top 25%. Those on temporary welfare can be predicted powerfully by low IQ even when controlled for other factors.

Chronic welfare dependence, however, is more complex. White women with higher IQs and socioeconomic background simply do not rely on welfare chronically. But low socioeconomic background predicts welfare dependence better than low IQ. Poverty cultures, then, transmit chronic welfare dependence, but the culture of poverty mostly influences those with low IQs.

Good parenting and...