Nonmarital childbearing in the 1980s: assessing the importance of women 25 and older
Foster, E.M.; Hoffman, S.D.
Family Planning Perspectives 28(3): 117-119
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0014-7354 PMID: 8827148 DOI: 10.2307/2136224Document Number: 298899
This analysis of marital and birth history data from the 1985-91 US Panel Study of Income Dynamics focuses on nonmarital childbearing. The total sample included 733 nonmarital births to 595 women from 1970 to 1979 and 933 nonmarital births to 741 women from 1980 to 1989. The sample for this study is confined to women aged 25 years and older or 117 births to 96 women in the 1970s and 280 births to 217 women in the 1980s. The analysis is based on births and not women. Findings indicate a shift to a greater proportion of nonmarital births to women aged 25 years and older, from 22% in the 1970s to 36% in the 1980s. However, only 15% of births were to women who were childless during their 20s. 58% of nonmarital births were to women who began childbearing as teenagers, and 46% of nonmarital births were to never married women who began childbearing as adolescents. Over 40% of births among women aged 25 years and older were to women who had been previously married. 33% of births were to women who had a first birth as teenagers, and almost 20% were to women aged under 18 years with a first birth. 19% of nonmarital births were to women with a previous marital birth, which was a considerable decline from the 1970s. 7% of nonmarital births were to women who had a previous marital birth and a previous nonmarital birth. Only 25% of births to women aged 25 years and older were to women with first births. 16% were to never married women with first births, which was a considerable decline from the 1970s. Racial differences occurred in nonmarital births between the 1970s and the 1980s. There is concern about the increased number of never married women older than 25 years with nonmarital births, because the increase amounted to a rise of 60% between decades. The authors point out that the lack of a formal marriage did not rule out the absence of contact with a father.