Bell Curve

376 The National Context Social Behavior and the Prevaknce of Low Cognitive Ability 37 7Sixtytwo percent of men ever interviewed in jail orprison came from the bottom 20 percent of intelligenceForty-five percent of women who ever received welfareare in the bottom 20 percent of intelligenceMen ever interviewed in jail(bars)Cumulative(line)Women ever on welfareCumulative(bars)(line)30% - 100%80%60%40%20%I\t 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 0th 7th 8th 9th 10t111Q Decile0%IQ DecileFiftyeseven percent of chronic welfare recipientsare in the bottom 20 percent of intelligenceWOMEN AND WELFAREWe start with women who have ever received welfare. The data areshown in the figure below. Overall, the mean IQ of women who everreceived welfare was 89. About 85 percent of them were below averagein IQ, and fewer than 4 percent had 1Qs in the top two deciles.For chronic welfare recipients, defined as women who had receivedwelfare for at least five years by 1990, the cognitive distribution waseven lower."' As the figure shows ,57 percent of chronic welfare motherswere in the bottom two deciles of IQ, 88 percent were in the bottomhalf of the distribution, and their mean IQ was 86. Just as low IQwas increasingly prevalent as the level of male unemployment increased,so also is low IQ more prevalent among mothers as their dependencyon welfare rises.Women on welfare for five or more yearsIQ DecileCumulative