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Unwed mothers in U.S. now claim most births younger than 30
By Jason Deparle and Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
LORAIN, Ohio -- It used to be called illegitimacy. Now it is the new normal. After steadily rising for five decades, the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: More than half of births to U.S. women younger than 30 occur outside marriage.
Once largely limited to poor women and minorities, motherhood without marriage has settled deeply into Middle America. The fastest growth in the past two decades has occurred among white women in their 20s who have some college education but no four-year degree, according to Child Trends, a Washington research group that analyzed government data.
Among mothers of all ages, a majority -- 59 percent in 2009 -- are married when they have children. But the surge of births outside marriage among younger women -- nearly two-thirds of U.S. children are born to mothers younger than 30 -- is both a symbol of the transforming family and a hint of coming generational change.
One group still largely resists the trend: College graduates overwhelmingly marry before having children. That is turning family structure into a new class divide, with the economic and social rewards of marriage increasingly reserved for people with the most education.
Is this true?
Unwed mothers in U.S. now claim most births younger than 30
By Jason Deparle and Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
LORAIN, Ohio -- It used to be called illegitimacy. Now it is the new normal. After steadily rising for five decades, the share of children born to unmarried women has crossed a threshold: More than half of births to U.S. women younger than 30 occur outside marriage.
Once largely limited to poor women and minorities, motherhood without marriage has settled deeply into Middle America. The fastest growth in the past two decades has occurred among white women in their 20s who have some college education but no four-year degree, according to Child Trends, a Washington research group that analyzed government data.
Among mothers of all ages, a majority -- 59 percent in 2009 -- are married when they have children. But the surge of births outside marriage among younger women -- nearly two-thirds of U.S. children are born to mothers younger than 30 -- is both a symbol of the transforming family and a hint of coming generational change.
One group still largely resists the trend: College graduates overwhelmingly marry before having children. That is turning family structure into a new class divide, with the economic and social rewards of marriage increasingly reserved for people with the most education.
Is this true?
