Trends in Premarital Childbearing, 1930 to 1994. Special Studies. Current Population Reports.

摘要

One of the most closely watched indicators of fertility over the past 30 years is the proportion of births occurring outside of marriage. Postponement of marriages among never-married women in pursuit of higher education and career development, along with increasing numbers of cohabiting relationships, have exposed women to greater risk of premaritally conceived births than in earlier years. Premarital childbearing among women has been on the rise not only among teenage women but also among older women for the last two decades, only recently leveling off in the mid-1990s. As a result, the issue of premarital childbearing among women of all ages has gained prominence as a national concern not unique to teenagers. Over the past decades, being unmarried and having a baby has undergone changing levels of acceptance by various social institutions, such as families, schools, and public and private organizations. Prenatal and postnatal classes offered to teenage women in schools and the availability of federal welfare programs such as the 'Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children' which benefit many unwed pregnant women are a few examples of concerns over out-of-wedlock childbearing and efforts to look at the issue from the viewpoint of mothers' and their children's health and well being. This report examines trends from 1930 to 1994 in the marital status of U.S. women at the time of their first birth. It presents historical data on how quickly women marry after having an out-of-wedlock birth and identifies the characteristics associated with the likelihood of premaritally pregnant women marrying before the birth of their first child.