Catholic Pluralism Project, 1995

• Summary
• Codebook
• Search
• Download
• Results

WHYPOVTY (Weighted by WEIGHT) There is a lot of talk these days about poverty in this country. Which of the following do you think comes closer to explaining why there is poverty in the United States?   1) Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money   2) Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages   3) Don't know

Pie Chart Bar Chart Cumulative Bar Chart

Category	Frequency	Percentage	Cumulative Percentage
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	548	20.7%	20.7%
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	1869	70.8%	91.5%
Don't know	224	8.5%	100%

Variable Comparisons

Education Marital status Sex Year of birth Region Race Convert? Household income

Education (I-EDUCATN)

	Lt HS grad	HS grad	SmCol/Tech	Coll. grad	Post-grad	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	31.5% 56	23.2% 172	22.1% 136	17.2% 74	13.0% 24	86	21.5% 462
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	65.7% 117	69.0% 511	65.4% 403	74.0% 319	77.8% 144	375	69.5% 1494
Don't know	2.8% 5	7.8% 58	12.5% 77	8.8% 38	9.2% 17	29	9.1% 195
TOTAL	100.0% 178	100.0% 741	100.0% 616	100.0% 431	100.0% 185	490	2151

Marital status (I-MARITAL)

	Married	Widowed	Div./Sep.	Single	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	21.6% 319	17.8% 33	17.9% 59	21.3% 137	0	20.8% 548
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	69.6% 1026	69.2% 128	73.6% 243	72.3% 464	8	70.7% 1861
Don't know	8.8% 130	13.0% 24	8.5% 28	6.4% 41	1	8.5% 223
TOTAL	100.0% 1475	100.0% 185	100.0% 330	100.0% 642	9	2632

Sex (I-SEX)

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	25.1% 262	17.8% 285	20.7% 547
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	63.9% 666	75.2% 1203	70.8% 1869
Don't know	10.9% 114	6.9% 111	8.5% 225
TOTAL	100.0% 1042	100.0% 1599	2641

Year of birth (I-YRBORN)

	In or before 1940	1941-1960	After 1960	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	20.9% 140	20.1% 205	21.2% 202	20.7% 547
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	65.5% 438	73.6% 751	71.5% 681	70.8% 1870
Don't know	13.6% 91	6.3% 64	7.3% 70	8.5% 225
TOTAL	100.0% 669	100.0% 1020	100.0% 953	2642

Region (I-REGION)

	Northeast	Midwest	South	West	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	16.9% 185	25.4% 161	24.7% 98	13.3% 30	75	20.2% 474
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	73.9% 808	63.4% 402	65.5% 260	85.8% 194	205	70.8% 1664
Don't know	9.2% 101	11.2% 71	9.8% 39	0.9% 2	10	9.1% 213
TOTAL	100.0% 1094	100.0% 634	100.0% 397	100.0% 226	290	2351

Race (I-RACE)

	White	Latino	African-Am	Other	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	21.2% 436	21.5% 79	4.4% 3	19.6% 21	8	20.8% 539
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	69.6% 1429	75.2% 276	95.6% 65	66.4% 71	28	70.9% 1841
Don't know	9.2% 189	3.3% 12	0.0% 0	14.0% 15	8	8.3% 216
TOTAL	100.0% 2054	100.0% 367	100.0% 68	100.0% 107	44	2596

Convert? (I-CONVERT)

	Raisd Cath	Cnvrt Cath	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	20.3% 490	25.1% 57	1	20.8% 547
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	71.7% 1727	60.8% 138	4	70.8% 1865
Don't know	8.0% 192	14.1% 32	0	8.5% 224
TOTAL	100.0% 2409	100.0% 227	5	2636

Household income (I-INCOME)

	Under 15K	15K-29,999	30K-49,999	50K-79,999	80K & over	Missing	TOTAL
Poor people's own behavior, such as not managing their money	17.0% 38	17.4% 88	20.0% 141	27.2% 144	21.1% 79	58	20.9% 490
Social conditions, such as lack of jobs and low wages	78.6% 176	71.3% 360	72.9% 515	66.8% 354	71.4% 267	198	71.5% 1672
Don't know	4.5% 10	11.3% 57	7.1% 50	6.0% 32	7.5% 28	47	7.6% 177
TOTAL	100.0% 224	100.0% 505	100.0% 706	100.0% 530	100.0% 374	303	2339