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NEW YORK, Mar 29 (Reuters Health) - About one third of US children are born out-of-wedlock, but the make up of this new American family is different from the common public perception, researchers report. National statistics show that only a minority of these births are to teenage mothers, and many single mothers are living with their babies' fathers.
In 1970, only 11% of children were born outside marriage, and half of these births were to teenage mothers. By 1999, one in every three American children were born to single parents, with teen moms accounting for fewer than 30% of these births, according to a report from Child Trends, a Washington, DC-based, non-profit research center.
Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics, Elizabeth Terry-Humen and her colleagues found that out-of-wedlock births in the US grew rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s, then plateaued between 1994 and 1999.
The researchers also found that in 1999, women in their early 20s--and not teens--had the highest rate of births outside of marriage. And more than one third of out-of-wedlock births were to women older than 25. In addition, the number of children born to parents who are living together is on the rise. By 1994, 39% of out-of-wedlock births were to cohabiting couples--up from 29% a decade earlier.
Another popular perception belied by actual statistics, according to the authors, is that out-of-wedlock births are a "racial and ethnic minority issue." For instance, while the nonmarital birth rate remains higher among black women compared with white women, the rate has more than doubled among whites since 1970, but declined by one quarter among blacks, the report indicates.
"The increase in childbearing outside of marriage reflects a reduction in the likelihood of marriage at all ages," according to Terry-Humen and her colleagues. The researchers note that the slow-down in out-of-wedlock births in the 1990s may be related to economic growth, changes in contraceptive use, Welfare reforms targeting births to single parents, and increased concern over HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The authors also point out that although the typical single mother has changed since 1970, statistics still indicate unmarried mothers are more likely to have low incomes, and their children face a higher risk for poor school performance and for having children outside of marriage themselves.
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